Life As Teikoku's Manager
by C.C. Lyn
Summary: Sakurai Shizumi was just a shy, average student at Teikoku Gakuen until she bumped into Kidou literally one day and was forced to become the soccer team's manager or be expelled. What she hadn't taken in mind before signing the contract was that being Teikoku's manager meant serving the rude and arrogant Kidou, Genda, Sakuma, and Fudou until she graduates from Teikoku Gakuen.
1. Oh Crap, What Have I Done?

**I've been thinking of doing this story for quite a while already (since 6th grade), so here it is! It revolves around a girl (my OC) named Sakurai Shizumi (bonus points if you know what her name means!) who is forced to become Teikoku's manager. The girl on the cover is how I imagine her to look like but I colored the eyes red with paint because the original picture had green eyes and Shizumi is supposed to have red eyes. So enjoy~**

Shizumi's POV

With a book clutched to my chest, I speed walked down the hall of the huge school that I attend, also known to everyone Teikoku Gakuen, a prestigious private school and home of the best soccer team in Japan. There were not a lot of people still out in the halls, as class was almost starting, so everyone was just minding their own buisness and trying to get to class on time. I always come to school early and hang out in the library until the first warning bell rings but today, I must have been too focused and not heard the first warning bell, so when I heard the second bell and saw the clock, I had to pick up my walking pace.

As I dashed by a clock, my pomegranate-like eyes glanced at the minute hand and saw that I only had thirty seconds left before the final bell rings. I lower my head and walked even faster, my long black hair trailing behind. It would be bad if my parents saw that I got my first detention for being late because of a book.

I had always been the shy, quiet type who blended in with the crowd. I was smart like everyone else who attended Teikoku Gakuen, and I never got in trouble. My uniform was always clean and ironed and in perfect condition. But I wasn't Ms. GoodyTwoShoes either, so I guess that meant I was an average student. There were a lot of students who attended Teikoku Gakuen, and I blended in perfectly. Since all my time in this school, I had never been the center of attention even once except when I am giving a presentation in class. But you get what I mean.

Suddenly, I bumped into someone and fell backwards onto my butt. The person that I had bumped into stumbled backward clumsily, but didn't fall. What I should have done was quickly stand up, apologize and hope that I still get to class on time, but instead, my body just froze on the ground when I heard the awkward silence and felt all eyes staring at me. That was not a good sign since I've never had an audience before, and I had a bad feeling about this.

Slowly, I raised my head and saw... oh no. Just my luck. I had came face to face with Kidou Yuuto, the most popular boy of our school.

He was the Commander's pet, the spoiled prince who could be late to class and still have a perfect record. Everybody treated him as a superior because if you get on his bad side, he could go tell the Commander and have you punished or expelled. The Commander would also expel anyone who injures a member of the soccer club, claiming that the school has a no bullying policy, but everyone knew that it was actually because an injured player has an overall negative effect on the team, which was the Commander's pride and treasure.

I had already broken one of the rules, and there was a really good chance that Kidou was going to hate me because of that. There was one thing left that could possibly save me. I stood up, and bowed. "Moushiwake arimasen," I apologized, still in the deep bow, waiting for him to either dismiss me or take me to see the Commander who will then expel me. help my breath and waited for the answer. Please, oh please god, let him be in a good mood today...

"Come with me," Kidou said and grabbed my wrist. Then he dragged me along in his large confident strides towards the Commander's office with me stumbling behind

I know I was dead for sure. I had broken both of the rules, so never mind being late to class and getting a detention. Now I was probably getting expelled twice if that was even possible. Yeah, my parents are not going to be happy I got kicked out of the best school in Japan.

Kidou knocked on the door, and I heard the Commander's familiar voice say, "Come in," as if beckoning my death. I had never been inside the Commander's office before just like most of the normal students, and with a deep breath, I stepped into the dark room behind Kidou with a heavy heart. How fitting that I was never a star shining bright that my life was going to end in a dark, secret room where barely anyone has been.

I stood near the door waiting as Kidou walked up to the Commander and said something quietly to him which I couldn't hear. Then the Commander also said something back then pulled out a file on the computer that could no doubt be mine, and the two conversed like that for a while, all of it unaudible to me all the while I prepare for the worse, which was definitly an expulsion. Then the final bell rang, indicating the start of class, and my anxiety rose even more. Can't they just chop off my head and be done with it? But no, they had to first chop off my limbs one at a time. Oh I get it now. This was part of my punishment because I deserved to have two punishments for breaking both the rules. They wanted to make me suffer.

Finally, the two stopped talking and the Commander looked up at me. "Come here," he said in his low voice. I swallowed what felt like a lump of sawdust in my throat, and slowly walked up to the Commander's desk.

"Sakurai-san, you know our school does not tolerate hurting other students," he droned, "Therefore, to disipline you..."

I braced myself for the next words, because I already knew what they were going to be.

"You can either become the soccer club's manager or be expelled from Teikoku Gakuen. Normally, I would have you immediately kicked out, but Kidou here has suggested that you become the soccer club's manager since they need one."

Wait what? I wasn't going to be expelled? And since when in Teikoku Gakuen's history did they ever have a manager?

"We're waiting," said Kidou, breaking through my thoughts of confusion.

"Huh?" I replied instinctively.

"What will it be? Become a manager or leave the school?" asked Kidou with a small smirk. I could detect a hint of amusment in his voice.

"I'll become a manager," I squeaked. Somehow, that aura he gave off made my legs feel like jelly and made my voice quiver. It was just fear, right? I was always a timid girl. But I didn't feel afraid in the usual way at all. Or rather, it was a feeling as if Kidou was controlling me completely, physically and emotionally, and I had to bow down and obey.

Looking at me through those black lenses, the Commander boomed like the god of justice, "Then starting on the first practice today after school, you are the official manager of Teikoku's soccer club until you graduate from Teikoku Gakuen."

**So how was it? I'm finally going to try working on another longer fanfic with chapters. Genda and Sakuma are probably going to appear in the next chapter. Fudou isn't going to appear until later into the story because Shizumi first meets him when he goes into Genda and Sakuma's hospital room. Please R&R!**


	2. Seeing Him Through A New Light

Still in Shizumi's POV

After Kageyama dismissed us, Kidou walked with me to class. He didn't have to even though we have the same first period, so I don't know why. Maybe because he just thought it would be impolite and awkward if he just ditched me.

When we stepped through the door, the teacher stopped talking and all eyes turned on us. Today really is my lucky day, ne? It was the second time I was the center of attention today. "Gomensai, Sensei," Kidou said with a small bow and the teacher went back to his lessons. But I noticed that most poeple kept on glancing back at me. They don't have to make such a big deal about someone being late, do they? But I wasthankful that it was because of Kidou that I got out of getting a detention.

By lunchtime, I felt like I was living in an alternate universe. I didn't realize until today that Kidou was in all four of my classes before lunch. Why today of all days I noticed, you ask? Well, you would too if the most popular boy of your school started walking with you to all your classes. Yes, he had somehow chose me of all people to walk with. Not _next to_. I mean _with_, as in putting an arm around me. I hated all the people looking at us, most of them probably wondering who was the girl Kidou was walking with. I had wanted to remove his arm, but again the feeling from earlier pushed that urge back down.

Usually, I engaged myself in a book in the corner of the library at lunch, but today, Kidou led me to the cafeteria. And of course, I went with him. Like before, I didn't know why, but I still followed.

"Oi, Kidou!" a cyan haired boy with an eyepatch shouted across the gigantic room, "Over here!" I quickly recognized him as Sakuma Jirou, Teikoku's deadly striker. The curious glances directed at me from the other students as Kidou walked over to Sakuma's table with me in tow made me lower my head so they couldn't see my face.

"Who's the girl?" the tall brunette sitting next to Sakuma asked with a suggestive grin.

"Our new manager," Kidou replied nonchalantly, but I knew that we could all feel the smugness creeping up his voice.

"Nice to meet you," the brunette, also known as the K.O.G. Genda Koujirou said to me. I lowered my head even more to hide the blush that was creeping up my face when he threw in a sexy wink after those words.

"Come to think of it, we've never had a manager before in the past 40 years. Most other schools entering the Football Frontier did, right?" Sakuma asked the boy with dreadlocks who was clearly enjoying the attention. Kidou just nodded, trying to act as if it was all no big deal. Seeing the response he got, the cyan haired striker exchanged looks with Genda then finally shrugged. "Guess she can stay."

Then Kidou changed the topic to their upcoming practice match against a weak team I've never heard of called Raimon or something and a mysterious striker who they are planning to lure out. Sakuma and Genda turned their focus to Kidou, and I breathed a sigh of relief. Finally the attention wasn't on me anymore, at least for now. Today really was unlucky. Or maybe it was lucky, but I just didn't like it. Most girls would be thrilled if they were suddenly pulled out of the B-lister crowd and into the spotlight by the prince of the school, but I was, I'll admit, quite timid and shy, and would much MUCH rather prefer to keep my old, stable life from a day ago.

After lunch break ended, I was glad I didn't have any classes with Kidou anymore. Just when I was about to dash out of the lunch room and to my fifth period classroom, I felt someone putting a hand on my shoulder. "I'll walk you," said the person behind, "Kidou said he left you with my care." Oh crap, I forgot. I have fifth period with the cyan haired striker. I turned my head around nervously and stuttered, "Arigatou, Sakuma-san."

More eyes stared at me this time when me and Sakuma walked out of the cafeteria. Why couldn't it be some other girl that Kidou chose? Well, the only person I could really blame was myself. I mentally banged my head on the wall for not watcing where I was going and bumping into the captain of the school's soccer team this morning. If only I had just been more careful. Right now, that detention sounds pretty inviting compared to this new life.

_Time Skip to After School_

"And this is our clubroom," Sakuma said as he opened the door and held it for me, "You first." I stepped in and gasped. Sakuma walked in after me, closing the door behind him. "Is something the matter?" he asked in a concerened tone. "No," I breathed, "It's just that I can't believe I'm actually inside."

Rumor says it that nobody, not even the Commander, had ever inside the Teikoku Soccer clubroom unless they were a member. It was sort of like a sacred place, only for the soccer players attending Teikoku Gakuen on sport scholarship, which all of them were since the Commander had specifically hand picked them.

Truthfully, the room wasn't all that special. There was no super fancy stuff like what you would imagine in an underground base, or in this case, the school's royalty's clubroom. There was a blank but slightly stained blackboard with clean but broken pieces of chalk lying astray on the chalk holder. The room was didn't have graffiti or paint peeling, but the walls were still slightly dirty looking even though you couldn't pinpoint why. There was a slightly dented metal cart in the cornner of the room near the exit filled with new soccer balls that looked like they had only been used once or twice. The floor wasn't super clean and shiny like in rich people houses, and there was an old-ish and pretty dirty looking cubby shelf where the soccer players had already dropped off their bags and gone to practice outside in the indoor soccer field. But the worst was the furniture. The fold up chairs equipped with red velvet cushions were knocked over and the table was slanted from someone standing up too fast and bumping into it.

"Everyone always think this room is like a palace, but this is what it actually looks like," Sakuma said sheepishly, "I know, don't say anything. This is actually one of it's neater days." Then he asked me, "Do you want me to call them in?" "No, it's fine," I squeaked, this time surprised at how different Sakuma felt from his captain. While Kidou gave off an intimidating and ruthless aura, if you actually got to talk to Sakuma, you would be surprised at how nice he is and how easy it is to feel comfortable around him. Before, I always thought the Teikoku Three which consists of Kidou, Sakuma, and Genda were all rude, arrogant, scary people. Maybe that's because I never got to know them. Or never opened my heart and gave them a chance.

"Sorry, wish I could help, but I have to get to practice or the Commander will get angry. So uh, I guess you can start by lining up the chairs? You don't have to do the tables, they are kinda heavy, so me and the rest of the members can do it after practice. Yeah, and you can start on the cabinet if you are finished," the cyan haired boy said, then tossed his bag into one of the empty cubbies. Then stood there and stared at me wierdly.

"What?" I asked, "Don't you need to get to practice?"

"Um, can you turn around or something? I need to uh, change first," he said awkwardly.

"Gomensai," I replied quickly, embarrassed, just realizing that he was still in his uniform, and turned around. I felt a blush creeping up my face. About forty seconds later, Sakuma said, "You can turn around now." Slowly, I turned my head first, then my body followed. I couldn't look away from his amber left eye which seemed to be even more piercing when highlighted by the dark green uniform. I basked in the feeling of floating in his gaze until he interupted me, "Later, um..." "Sakurai. Sakurai Shizumi," I informed him. "Thanks. Later, Sakurai-san!" he shouted then bolted out the room.

I turned around to face the room. Then I looked at the messy chairs knocked over everywhere, and took a deep breath then exhaled slowly. It was time to get down to buisness.

Busy with cleaning the cabinets after I lined up all the chairs, which were relatively easy since they were light, I had no idea how much time had passed before I heard someone shout, "Hey! Someone's in our clubroom?" Using my peripheral vision, I saw a boy with spiky purple hair and a pair of headphones, also know as Narukami Kenya. "Who is she?" asked a gruff voice belonging Jimon Daiki, the other striker of Teikoku. By now, most of the other members had already arrived at the door.

Then I heard the voice of _him_ as he sauntered toward the crowd gathering at the door. "Ah, I forgot to tell you," Kidou said, no doubt enjoying the moment, "I got us a manager."

"From now on, Sakurai Shizumi will be our manager," Sakuma piped in. "Guys, treat her well," Genda's deep, silky yet rough voice said. Then he winked at me again and I felt my face heat up like last time. Hearing their respected goalie's words, the rest of the team chorused, "Hai~"

**From now on, the story will be in Shizumi's POV but will have a few scenes in other characters' POVs. Since this story is a Teikoku Boys x OC fic, I threw in a little Genda x Shizumi in the middle and Sakuma x Shizumi at the end. Hope you enjoyed this chapter!**


	3. Resurfacing Memories

**I got a lot of people (on not Wattpad) saying how OOC Kidou was in the last chapter, but I'll just say in my defense that I have something planned, and it ain't all because he likes her. Soon (but not in this chappie)...**

It was two days after I had became the manager, but today was the first day I was watching them practice on the indoor field. What was I doing before, you ask? Cleaning the very-unlike-them clubroom. You would think that it should be neat and tidy since they all came from educated families, but what did I expect from a room where boys could do anything they want in it?

I was sitting on the floor on the side, watching them stretch before practice as I wiped a slightly scruffed soccer ball with a cleaning cloth. Since I was a manager now, I had changed into a black tracksuit with red striped accents which brought out my pomegranate eyes. They had always been my best trait, since well, a long time ago. I pursed my lips as a wave of sadness passed over me, then I quickly shook it away. "Forget about the past, you are Sakurai Shizumi now", I scolded myself inside my head.

A TV set wheeled in by Genda an Jimon caught my attention. What's that for? As if reading my mind, Genda shouted across the field at their captain with dreadlocks, "Why did you tell us to go get this?" "Just watch," Kidou replied, with that I-know-something-you-don't-know tone in his voice. Then Kidou slid a tape which he had been hiding somehow into the slot.

A slightly grainy video started. I heard the familiar voice that belonged to none other than the long time commentator of the Football Frontier. "And...he scores again, bringing the score up to a tie!," Kakuma Oushou shouts enthusiastically, "With only one minutes left of the game, can player number 13 get another point for Kidowkawa Seishuu, or will the game go into overtime and make him lose the nickname Death Bringer?"

Hearing these words, my body froze up. The hand holding the cloth was trembling so much that the cloth fell from my hand and landed on the ground. But my eyes stayed fixed onto the screen as if held there by a magnet.

A boy with short black hair that had a sheen like a blackbird's feathers and the number 13 on his jersey kicked a ball at the goalie. The shoot, which was as if the ball was traveling through a typhoon of black feathers shot directly past the goalie and into the goal before the goalie had time to react. "Wha-ha-how?" stuttered the poor boy guarding the goal just as the whistle indicating the ending of the game was blown. The black haired boy who kicked the ball at him turned his head sideways just enough so that one ruby red eye could meet contact with his. "My hissatsu move. Kuroi Hane Taifuu," he said then slowly walked back to the rest of his teamates who were cheering at their victory.

Kidou clicked a button on the remote control, which who knows where he hid that too, and the screen went dead. All pairs of eyes including mine and one single eye turned to their team captain. "We don't have enough time to create another hissatsu shoot technique before the Football Frontier this year starts, so I thought Sakuma and Jimon should both learn a solo shoot from Kidowkawa Seishuu, the second best soccer team in Japan, just in case." That explained what the short clip was for.

"Don't we still have Koutei Penguin 1gou?" asked Narukami. Kidou's aura immediatley changed. "Don't ever mention that hissatsu's name," he growled. Instinctlively, I asked, "What's that?" Everyone stared at me, probably since I hadn't really said anything to them before. "Er," Kidou said, and an awkward silence passed between them. Kidou turned to Sakuma, who nodded at him, then to Genda, who also nodded, then stared at me directly in the eye.

"It's a forbidden hissatsu shoot technique that Sakuma can use. It is a move stronger than Koutei Penguin 2gou and does damage to the user, so we sealed it away along with Beast Fang which is catch hissatsu technique that Genda can use and also does damage to the user."

Now I get why Kidou got so angry. Seeing Sakuma use Koutei Penguin 1gou and getting hurt must have been too painful for Kidou to remember. I know how it feels to see a friend in pain, and you could do nothing to help them.

"Okay. Sakuma, Jimon, proceed to the goal. The rest of you, start your dribbling drills. Genda, lead them for the rest of practice," Kidou commanded, and everyone followed. I was about to kick two soccer balls to the fowards, but then stopped myself and tossed them instead. "Sakurai Shizumi," I repeated to myself in a whisper.

"Try to use Kuroi Hane Taifuu," Kidou told the two fowards with his arms crossed. "He moved too fast! I couldn't see what happened at all," complained Jimon. "I guess we just shoot as fast as we can and hope that one of them eventually feels right," advised Sakuma, but you could tell that he didn't have much hope of it succeeding either. "I think his kicking posture was something like this," Kidou said, and shot Sakuma's soccer ball into the net. "Hmm..." Sakuma said as he watched Kidou carefully. "Okay, let me try," said Jimon. Then he charged at the ball and kicked it into the net. Both his and Kidou's looked no different from a normal shoot.

The three boys looked at the video again, this time replaying it in slow motion, then went back to try it again. And again. And again. One and a half hour had already passed with any of them having any success. Before I knew it, my voice cut through their practice. "The key is to bring your leg back then let it swing at the ball for a critical hit instead of using strength to kick it as hard as you can."

The three of them stopped and stared at me, then at each other. Then Kidou shrugged and said, "Might as well try it. We're having no success so far anyway." Sakuma nodded at his captain's words and kicked at a soccer ball. Even though you couldn't exactly tell why, this time, the shoot looked different from the failed tries before. A little bit of wind swirled around the ball as it headed for the net. Jimon and Kidou stared dumbstruck at the ball. "It felt...different this time," Sakuma finally said, equally as shocked, "I think I'm getting a grasp at how it's done." The other two nodded slowly, mouths still gaping.

Then Jimon turned to me. "How did you...?" he asked. "Arigatou, Shizumi-san!" Sakuma shouted at me with a big smile. I felt my heart beat faster, but I wasn't sure why. "It-it's nothing," I stuttered, waving my hands in front of my chest. From my peripheral vision, I saw Kidou stare at me intently as if deep in thought. Then Kidou shouted, "Try again, Sakuma! We have to perfect it!" and they went back to practicing Kuroi Hane Taifuu. I let out a sigh of relief.

** I added some mystery to Shizumi's character and what Kidou is thinking in this chapter. As for Kuroi Hane Taifuu, it is a hissatsu move I invented, so you won't be able to see it in the game or anime. This story is so fun writing so I'm gonna focus on this so sorry my other fics won't be getting much updates these days. Gomensai~ especially to those of you who are looking for the next extended chapter in Morning Jog (I kinda left off at a cliffhanger).**


	4. A Strange Encounter

**In this chapter Shizumi will be dragging out her sentences a lot. Whenever she does that, it is not to add tension but because she doesn't want to reveal the truth yet.**

Seeing Teikoku practice soccer made me want to test my footwork too. It had been some time since...the last time I played. After Teikoku was finished with practice, I took the bart to a place that held many memories of my past. Before I was good enough for...a team.

When I got off the bart, I ran to the Steel Tower Plaza as fast as I could. It really wasn't that far, but I was panting a little by the time I got there. My endurance was deteriorating due to lack of practice in a long time and was effecting my speed. "You need to keep it up even if you don't play anymore. Speed is everything," I whispered to myself as I climbed the stairs to the top.

When I reached the platform, I was surprised to find a tire hanging on a tree. That was strange. Nobody usually comes here, at least back when I used to practice here. Maybe some little kids from the elementary school over there made a swing here. It looked old and falling apart, so I could probably use it since it must have been abandoned long ago.

Placing the soccer ball I "borrowed" from Teikoku Gakuen firmly on the ground in front of me, I took a step back. Then I took a step foward to go into the shoot and kick the ball. It exploded off my foot and though the tire, then bounced off a tree pretty hard. I smirk. My aim was still perfect and the shooting power was still precise like needle point.

Suddenly, I heard a THUK and someone crying out, "Ow!" I quickly whipped around to see a boy about my age with brown hair and an orange headband lying on the ground unconscious next to my soccer ball. "Are you okay?" I called out in a panic, already starting to fish out my phone to call 911.

Miraculously, the boy groaned and crawled up. Being hit on the head like that should have given him a concusion since I knew what happened to people who were hit by my shoots, but somehow, he looked unharmed and had a huge idiotic smile on his face. Oh no, I just screwed up his brain, didn't I? I opened up my phone and was about to type in 911 until he said, "It's fine, it's just a small bruise." I stared at him. I need to call the mental hospital to take care of his brain injury fast, didn't I? Seeing my expression he laughed nervously and reassured, "No really, it's fine! I get hit like this all the time." Okay. So I was dealing with a reckless brickhead.

"By the way, what are you doing here? Usually, I'm the only one," the brunette asked me as if the pain was all gone already. But looking at his serious expression, I couldn't help but laugh. He really was a baka brickhead who moved on quick. "Really?" I told him, still laughing, "Usually, _I'm _the only one!" "Eh, I've never seen you around," he said, still in with that serious face, making me laugh even harder. "I don't come here anymore," I said, finally settling in from my laughing fit.

Suddenly, his eyes sparkled and he grabbed onto my shoulders, "I saw that shoot. It was amazing! Ne, do you play soccer?" Another wave of sadness washed over me. I my lips grew into a thin line and I said, "Used to." "Why did you stop?" he asked, then saw my pained expression which I thought I had been hiding well, "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to talk about it. But do you like soccer?" "Yeah, I do," I replied. "Then you should play again! Soccer won't abandon you if you love it with your heart," he shouted at me with enthusiasm. I smiled a little. This guy really was one of those idiots who knew nothing and dreamed big.

"Hey, can I try to stop your shoot? That was a powerful shot earlier," he asked. My lips grew into a thin line again. "That's just a warmup shoot," I told him. "You must be a really great player then! Give me your best kick," he said, then planted his feet determinedly on the ground. I chuckled and said, "Sorry, no can do. My best kick is not to be seen," as I kicked the soccer ball lightly while walking away from him to get into position too. His form was horrible and you could easily tell that he won't even be able to stop an elementary school kid's shoot, let along mine.

But seeing him in goalie position and a soccer ball in front of me made my senses alive again. That adrenaline which had been long gone came rushing back to me. I lifted my right leg back then made contact with the ball, sending it at him with a shoot like before. It slammed into his stomach and he tried to stand his ground and hug the ball, but it still threw him backward. Well what did I expect. His stance already looked crappy and his muscles were not prepared for the shoot at all.

"You 'kay?" I asked, this time already knowing that he would be fine so I was not concerned at all. The boy crawled up and tossed the ball back at me. "Yeah," he replied, scratching his head, "That really was something." A faint smile played across my lips. "That's nothing. If you think that's powerful, then try to catch my best shoot," I said and started walked away, "See ya."

"You have to show me your best shot sometime! You have to!" he shouted after me, his voice bubbling with excitement even though he had just been knocked over by my "weak" kick. "Someday," I said quietly with a smile, then turned and walked away. "Then it's a promise!" he shouted loudly. I waved without turning around, signifying that I had heard him. "Alright!" he cheered, "I'm gonna get strong enough to stop it!" He really was a strange boy.

As I walked toward the stairs, I didn't notice the crimson red eyes watching my every move carefully behind a pair of goggles. But right before I reached the bottom of the stairs, I could have sworn I saw the corner of a cape dash behind a building. Maybe it was just a shadow.

**In case you were worrying, this story isn't becoming Endou x Shizumi. This chapter is very important for future chapters, though. And it's very obvious who was stalking her. But like I said, it's not for love. You'll just have to wait to find out why.**


	5. The Lion Will Protect His Prize

**I already wrote a chapter for Kidou and Sakuma, so it's Genda's turn now! This chapter is dedicated to DragonessKunoichi (on Wattpad) for supporting me throughout this story.**

The next day, when I walked up to the gate of the gigantic school, I saw a certain goalkeeper leaning on the side. "Ohayo, Genda-san," I greeted politely as stopped in front of him. He looked up, or down in this case, "Oh. Ohayo, Shizumi-chan." I never really noticed how tall he was compared to me, and I was pretty average height. His tall, ninth-grader-like built towered over me.

"Are you waiting for somebody?" I asked. Since when did he ever come so early? Usually it was just me, a few teachers, and a few other students who I recognized. "I was waiting for you, Shi~zu~chan~," he leaned toward me and replied playfully, drawing out my name. I felt my heart beat faster like yesterday when Sakuma smiled at me, but instead of taking my breath away, this time I felt nervous. Yet in a good way somehow. Was that even possible?

I managed to get out a "Why?" before I thought I was going to faint. Luckily I didn't. That would have been really embarrassing if I did, and Kidou was going to wave it in my face every chance he got if he ever found out.

"Just wanted to see if you wanna hang out with me after school today. There's a new coffee shop near the school that just opened," said Genda with a smile that made him look like a child. I felt the temptation tugging at me. I didn't trust anyone on the soccer team so I always kept my guard up around them other than the cyan haired striker, but even Sakuma I didn't trust completely.

Right now, I could feel my guard slipping at his cute smile. "Gomen Genda-san, I can't," I said at last. He pouted, melting my heart and making me regret my decision, "Can you help me study for my science test? I need to get a good grade on it since I failed the last one."

I felt the wall I kept in the middle of us start crumbling. He really knew how to convince people to get what he wants, ne? I knew it was all just a cute face he was putting up, but it was working really well. If I don't do something quick, my mouth is going to say yes without my command. "There's still half an hour before first period starts. I can show you the main points to study in the library right now," I told him, even though I knew what he actually wanted was a date, not to ace the test. I saw the disapointment wash over his face, but he quickly regained composure and followed me to the library.

_Time Skip to After Practice_

"That's it for today. And don't forget that we have a practice match against Raimon the day after tomorrow!" Kidou called to everyone, thus dismissing them from practice. Today's Kuroi Hane Taifuu trials were all fails, with the three trying to learn it only occasionally getting one with a bit of wind like the one Sakuma shot yesterday. The Commander watched them with a disapointed gaze. Well of couse they couldn't do it yet. It isn't a move that anyone could learn easily. That was why only one person able to use it was ever known, and that was the black haired boy of Kidowkawa Seishuu with the number 13 who was nicknamed the Death Bringer. And the word "Death" wasn't a word to be taken lightly.

Sadly, I couldn't go to the Steel Tower Plaza like yesterday since I actually did need to study for that test Genda mentioned in the morning. I changed back into my uniform since I keep my tracksuit at school on days with school. Then I picked up my bag which was a little heavy today because my science textbook was also in it. Usually, I leave all my textbooks in my locker unless I need to use them.

in the middle of a busy city. Usually, people were walking on both streets that the alleyway connected, so I never had to worry about danger. If I shouted, or perhaps fake a high, girly shriek, then surely someone would come to my rescue. And if worse comes to worse, I would have many witnesses.

But I felt a chill run up my spine when I discovered that I had to cross a long, dark alley in the corner of the city where there was suspiciously no one around today. If I stepped into the alley, then I would be straying from where there was people, but this was the only route home. All I could do was hold my breath and run through and hope I get to the other end as quick as possible, and safely too. And of course, with my bad luck these days, two gangsters just had to come greet me.

"Well, well, well. What do we have here. A girl wandering the streets alone," said who looked like the leader. He had purple hair styled strangely, almost like moose horns, and was tall, around Genda's height. My eyes instinctively scoured over them first, my mind remembering every detail. It was a habit I had taught myself a long time ago. Always observe the enemy first. The scrawny orange haired boy standing next to the tall purple haired one looked scared but was pretending to look brave. "This is our street," he said, voice trembling a little, "Tobi the Kicker will teach you a lesson." Should I be cocky to risk buying time or angering him or fake timid and play it safe, since he looked like the type who would go easy on girls? I decided to go with cocky, but my mind was whirring quickly already. A plan instantly starting forming in my mind. Lure them into the right angle then push the shorter boy into the taller one to give me a two second head start, which should be enough for my speed to take me out of this alley.

"Oh? You're looking pretty beaten up already," I directed at the short one, but made sure the tall one heard. "What did you say about Suzume?" the Tobi the Kicker shouted and pushed me against a wall. Crap. I had accidently hit a nerve and made him angry. I was never that great at playing gamble. It was time for Plan B. I had always been much better at acting.

"L-let go of-f me-e-e..." I trembled, tears forming in my eyes, "P-ple-please..." What boy could resist against harming a cute, scared girl? I felt the boy's grip on me loosen a little. Perfect. I shoved him backward with all my might even though all it did was make him loose his balance for a few seconds. I then shoved the smaller kid who had to be Suzume to the side as I ran down the alley. Just like I planned, the taller boy cared about the shorter boy a lot so he helped steady him first, giving me the two second head start I wanted, then came charging with fury. Though surprisingly, he wasn't falling that far behind like most people who try to catch up to my speed, but I was slowly putting more distance between us. Yes, a little more and I'll be out...

Three more gansters blocked the exit, and I skidded to a stop. Five seconds later, the tall boy caught up and blocked the other side of the alley. Soon, Suzume also caught up and joined the tall one. I looked at every one of them carefully, trying to find a crack. Even a little, and with my speed I'll leave them in the dust. But there was none. I was trapped. I couldn't take down even one boy completely if they were fit and taller than me, let alone four plus one midget. If only I had a soccer ball right now.

"How dare you hurt Suzume," Tobi the Kicker growled. The four taller boys advanced in on me. "Yeah," one of them said," Tobi the Kicker's gonna git you for this." The purple haired leader did a sideway kick at my head. Shocked at how strong the kick was, I only barely ducked just in time. "Tsch," said one of the gansters, "She's not as weak as we thought." Tobi the Kicker kicked at my face again, but harder and faster this time. A part of his boot scraped my cheek. I could tell that the boys were getting angrier and angrier. But this time when he tried to kick me, I was prepared. Showing too much of your moves to your opponent was a common beginner mistake that he made. When he brung his right leg up, I slid downward and kicked his left shin at the pressure point. I heard a grotesque but satisfying cracking sound as he collapsed to the floor.

For a moment, the three standing and one midget stared at each other in awkward silence, debating what to do with their boss taken out. Then finally, the short boy shouted, "Get her!" The three nodded. The first one punched me pretty hard on the upper arm, and another punted me in the knee. I closed my eyes bracing the attack as the third was about to punch me in the face. But it never came.

Nervously cracking open one ruby red eye, I saw the boy collapsing onto the ground. Behind him stood a tall boy with spiky hair brushed to the side. Genda Koujirou.

The remaining two and Suzume stared at the K.O.G. with as much shock as me, probably wondering why the best goalkeeper in Japan was in a dark alley in the corner of town. "What?" Genda asked angrily, "Ever seen someone take out someone else in one punch before?" That was when the gangsters knew the true color of the situation. They stared at each other, and ran away back into the depth of the alley.

"Are you okay?" he asked me when the gansters were no where to be seen. "Wh-why are you here?" I stammered. "I have to cross the main road to get home," he said, already helping me limp out the alley, "But then I heard some noises that sounded like Tobi the Kicker and his gang at work, so I thought I'd check it out. You were lucky that I came just in time."

I walked in silence, the earlier events still replaying in my mind. I would have been dead if Genda hadn't shown up. I really got lucky this time.

A few minutes later, we reached an apartment building. "Arigatou," I said, and started walking up to the elevator that would take me to my floor. "Wait, you live here too?" Genda asked me. "Huh?" I replied, "Yeah. You?" "Same here," he told me, and boarded the elevator with me. Did I really never noticed that I lived in the same apartment building as my school's goalkeeper?

"Be more careful next time, 'kay?" he told me when he got off at his floor. "Hai," I answered, "Sorry to cause you trouble today." "It's okay. No big deal. I'm glad you're safe." Then the elevator door closed, leaving me to ponder why my heart was pounding so fast at his words which seemed to have a hidden meaning in them.

**When this story happens has finally been set! I'm gonna start at the beginning of the anime when Teikoku Gakuen have a practice match with Raimon, then rewrite the whole storyline (I won't change any events) with Shizumi in it, all the way to the FFI. It won't stretch to the GO timeline though, since I didn't watch it yet. **


	6. Pre-Game Preparations

**Yeah, you can tell I had no idea what to put for the title. And sorry this chapter might be kind of short. **

_Next Day at Practice_

I shook my head slightly and sighed frustratedly at the way practice was turning out so far. By now, I had already cleaned the clubroom's cabinet and wall the best I could and wiped all the soccer balls. The chair problem was getting a little better, with them probably trying to be neater under Sakuma's watch, which I admit was scary thanks to the way his amber pupil seemed to glow as if molten.

Jimon was lying on the floor panting and sweating while a tired and disheveled Sakuma sat next to him trying to catch his breath. The only person with hope that they could complete Kuroi Hane Taifuu by the time the Football Frontier started was Kidou, who was watching the video by himself right now.

I ran up to the two fowards with water bottles and towels. "Arigatou, Shizumi-san," panted Sakuma, and took a swig of water. Jimon only grunted in agreement, too tired too get a word out. I didn't blame them. I could relate to this. There was a time when practicing soccer was my everything too.

"Everybody go home and sleep well even if it is just a weak team we are playing tomorrow," Kidou called out. "Hai!" the members of Teikoku's soccer club shouted at their captain's word. When most of the members had scattered, I walked up to Kidou. "Ne, can I borrow a soccer ball today?" I asked him. He looked at me wierdly, probably wondering what I would need with a soccer ball, but nodded slowly anyway. "Arigatou!" I said with a small bow, then picked up a soccer ball on my way out.

_Time Skip_

I walked away from the dark alley, leaving behind five unconscious boys lying on the ground and without any clue on me that could reveal that I had just met those gansters again other than the scruffed soccer ball in hand.

_Time Skip_

I put my shoes neatly by the door, then dropped off my schoolbag in my room. Then I went back to the empty living room and stood in front of the phone. My fingers hovered over the dial button as I was nervous whether I should call or not. In the end, I did. After a few rings with my anxiety growing every second, somebody finally picked up.

"Shizu?" a soft voice asked. "Hai. It's me, mama," I replied. There was a pause on the other end. Then the woman let out a cry of relief. "Shizu! Are you okay? Why are you calling?" I heard another voice on the other end. "Shizu? Is that you?" a man's voice called. "Hai, papa," I answered. "Did something happen?" he asked in a panicked voice. "No, papa. I'm fine," I replied quietly. "Then why are you calling?" my father roared on the other end, "We told you to avoid contact with us unless you were hurt or in danger! Do you know what would happen if anyone found out that you were related to us?"

"Gomensai," I said. There was an awkward pause. "Why are you calling us, sweetie?" my mother's soft voice finally asked. "I'm going back into the soccer world," I told them, then added, "As a manager for Teikoku. I'll show my face at the Football Frontier as a girl."

"Why, Shizu? We told you to stay away from the soccer world!" my mother cried out desperately, "You'll be found out for sure." "Don't worry, mama. I'll be careful," I said, then ended the call before they could reply.

Tomorrow was going to be the first step of a new road. Or maybe a step back to the old road.


	7. Teikoku's Soccer

_Rumble rumble. _It was the day of the match, and we were finally here. The bus skidded to a stop, and boys in uniforms and matching caps ran out and lined up. Then a red carpet rolled out. Teikoku was here.

Kidou walked out with me a step behind, followed by the rest of Teikoku. This "Raimon" really was a small school. I heard rumors that Teikoku destroyed any school they defeated. If that was true, then this supposingly weak team of Raimon's was going to be blamed for the destruction of their school. Well, I guess it can't be helped. But I was still slightly excited for the match since it had been so long since I had been at a soccer game in person.

We stopped in front of the group of boys that I guess was Raimon's soccer team. Their captain was wait, I know him! He was the baka brickhead I had met at the Steel Tower Plaza. He must have recognized me too, for his face looked shocked and taken back. If this was their captain, then the rest of the team must be even worse. I pitied the school a little, but then brushed the thought aside. But I was a little interested to see how the brickhead will attempt to defeat Teikoku.

"Kidou-san, why are we playing against this kind of team?" asked Henmi, "I don't think they'll improve our skill." I was wondering the same thing.

"We might be able to see something interesting here," Kidou said in an amused grin. Something interesting? What could a weak team like this be "interesting" to Kidou? As if reading my mind, Henmi asked, "Something interesting?" "Yeah," replied Kidou mysteriously, "Look foward to it." Oh you bet I will.

The brown haired boy with the orange headband ran up to us. "I'm the captain of Raimon's Soccer Club, Endou Mamoru," he greeted. Ah, so that was his name. He continued, "Thank you for asking for a practice match against us." Endou reached out his hand to shake Kidou's but Kidou kept his arms crossed and said, "This is our first time on the field. Mind letting us warm up first?" Endou looked like he didn't know how to respond, and finally said, "Sure, go ahead." What was Kidou planning? Kidou of all people should know that you don't reveal your moves to your opponent before the match.

Endou brought his team off the field, and the members of Teikoku scattered over it. I walked over to where a green haired girl who must be the manager of Raimon was sitting. I then stood next to her and patiently watched our players display their moves while trying to figure out what Kidou had in mind.

Well soon I had my answer. I saw the members of Raimon whisper nervously with each other, and a few even shuddered. "We're playing against guys like him?" a pink haired boy asked with fear in his voice after seeing one of our member's shoot. So Kidou wanted to psych the opponent out. But what was the point in it? Teikoku could already easily defeat Raimon, so why make it worse for them?

Then Kidou snapped his fingers, and Jimon kicked a soccer ball at Henmi, who passed it to Kidou, who then finally shot it with an easy punt at Endou. Caught by surprise, Endou reacted just in time to stop the shoot. Truthfully, I wouldn't call that a "shoot" but I could tell that it was Endou's limit. Endou stared at his hands in horror, but then shouted passionately, "Now it's getting interesting! I'm fired up!"

"Wait," said one of Raimon's members, a fat green haired boy, "I need to use the toilet!" Then he ran off to who knows where. "What are you going to do? Even with that guy, you only have ten members," asked Kidou, stiffling a laugh. I could tell that the rest of Teikoku was also trying not to break out into laughter. Was this what Kidou meant by something interesting?

I giggled quietly on the side, and the green haired manager stnading next to me shot me a dirty look. "Don't laugh at Raimon," she hissed angrily. This only made me want to laugh more. She thought they were so strong, and boy was she about to face a big disapointment when Teikoku squashes them.

"We do have eleven. Somebody get Megane!" shouted a boy with a teal colored ponytail. "I'll get him," said the girl next to me, and she ran off. A minute later she came back with a boy with glasses who didn't look like sports was his thing at all. Then the boy talked with Endou for a while, talking about all his "special conditions and requirements". When was the match going to start? If this really was the entertainment Kidou meant, then it was starting to get boring.

Something Jimon said to Henmi caught my attention. "It seems the Commander is interested in a newly transfered player in this school," he replied to Henmi's question. A newly transfered player, and good enough that the Commander would know about and be interested in...could it be him? After that incident, we both went our own ways and I've never heard about him ever since.

"He's not here yet," Kidou replied. When Henmi complained, Kidou just said, "I said he's not here _yet." _

Finally, Endou brought the boy who ran away back to the field, and the match began. I sat down on the bench next to the green haired manager to watch the game. Then a blue haired girl with red glasses who I payed no attention to joined the green haired girl. They conversed a little, all of which I blocked out as white noise. I was here for soccer, not a chat. Maybe that was why I couldn't make new friends and didn't have any old friends who were girls.

The whistle indicating the start was blown, and Raimon started the kickoff. The boy earlier with pink hair charged at the goal. Sakuma and Jimon slid to try to steal the ball, but was doged easily. I could tell that they were just pretending to miss to mock the other team since I saw their true soccer skills during practice.

Then the boy, who's name I learned from Kakuma was Someoka, shot at the goal. Genda jumped and let it graze his fingers, making it lose course and hit the goalpost. Then he grabbed it and rolled smoothly on the ground. Who do Raimon think we were. Such a weak shot was of course going to be stopped by the K.O.G.. Unless, this was the best Raimon has got? If so, then this really is the weakest team I've ever seen.

"Kidou, my job ends here," said Genda as he tossed the ball to the red-caped captain. "Yeah," Kidou answered, "It's time we showed them how Teikoku plays soccer." "Go," Kidou said quietly as he passed the ball to Jimon, who directly kicked it at Endou before Raimon's defenders had any time to react. Obviously, it went in. Endou was thrown backward to the ground by the impact even though this false shoot by Jimon was a little weaker than the one I shot at Endou a few days ago.

The game continued similarly, with Teikoku injuring the members of Raimon as they passed the ball around and scored again and again. Finally, the half time whistle was blown. The scoreboard read Teikoku 10, Raimon 0.

The members of Raimon gathered here at the bench and sprawled on the floor like Jimon did after practice two days ago. All of them were worn out and depressed. "It's not like we can win anyway," one of them said gloomily. Endou was the only one still determined to win, so he kept on trying to cheer up his teammates. "Give up before you can't play soccer anymore," I told them. "What is she doing on our side?" asked one of Raimon's players, looking at me halfheartedly. "Go back to your own kind," Someoka mustered to growl at me. "Hehehe, sure," I snickered then got up and walked to the other half where Teikoku was gathered.

Finally, the referee called out for them to come back and switch sides. Then the second half of the game began. Teikoku started the kickoff this time. "Let's go," said Kidou with a sudden change in aura, "Begin the Death Zone."

The whole atmostphere of the game changed after those words. Teikoku was serious now, and on the attack. "And force that guy to come out!" Kidou shouted as he passed the ball foward to his charging teammates. Doumen, Jimon, and Sakuma jumped up at the ball and started spinning in the air. Purple mist swirled around them as they formed a triangle crackling with electricity with the ball in the middle.

"Death...Zone!" the three cried when they kicked the ball at Endou. Finally a real shoot, not just a mock play. Endou stared at the incoming soccer ball in shock, too late to stop it. He got thrown backward into the net, then the soccer ball rolled back to the field. "Keep it up until that guy gets on the field," Kidou commanded with that evil grin of his. The score quickly rose from 10 to 14, then to 18. Teikoku's players laughed at how Raimon was collapsing one by one until only Endou was left. It was cruel, yet made my blood thirsty for more. I truly was one of them, wasn't I?

"Come out. Come out," Kidou called out, "If you don't then the last person standing...," he pointed at the brunette guarding the goal. "We'll destroy him!" Jimon shouted and kicked soccer ball towards him. It bounced off Endou's face and went back to Teikoku. Teikoku shot at him again, and this kept up for many times. They were aiming not for the goal, but for him on purpose.

The teal haired defender with the ponytail slowly crawled back up. "Don't joke with me," he muttered, then cried, "This is not soccer!" He jumped in front of Endou just in time to block one of Jimon's shoots.

He looked like he had never seen this type of play before. He must be an inexperienced newbie who had no idea how the world of soccer worked. A memory flashed through my mind.

_I stood in front of the collapsed goalie with a soccer ball under one foot. "No please don't!" he shouted out at me desperately. "Gomensai. But I have to win," I replied, then my foot made contact with the ball. Then I walked away leaving the paralyzed goalie crying in despair._

The real world of soccer was cruel. I had learned that a long time ago. If you wanted to win, you have to be merciless even if it rips you apart inside.

By now, Teikoku had scored 19 points. Raimon's only player left was the glasses boy who's name was Megane. He looked around terrified at the bodies of his teamate lying around him, and ran away with tears in his eyes. He tossed his uniform on the ground on his way back to the main building, symbolizing that he gave up on the match. That was the smart choice. Admit defeat before you are destroyed completely and forever scarred that you can't play soccer anymore.

Teikoku laughed at the pitiful sight of Raimon all down for the count and only left with ten players. I heard some students watching on the side say they gave up hope on the team. From my peripheral vision, I noticed a tan hand grab up the abadoned jersey. Could it be him?

"Goal!" the referee shouted. Teikoku had scored it's 20th point. I looked away. There was no point in watching anymore. Teikoku was going to win, Raimon was going to lose, and Teikoku was going to destroy Raimon. Suddenly, I heard some students call out, "Who's that guy? I don't remember him being on our team!"

I jerked my head back to the game, and sure enough, I saw _him_ walk over to the field wearing the jersey that had been abandoned earlier. That guy I would recognize no matter what. His spiky platinum hair was unique alright, but it was his distinct aura that I remembered most clearly. Gouenji Shuuya, ace striker of Kidowkawa Seishuu who disappeared from the soccer world after last year's Football Frontier, was back.


	8. The Return of Gouenji Shuuya

**Yeah, I got people saying that I copied a lot of the dialogue in the last chapter from the anime and I admit I did, but I won't do it anymore after Teikoku and Raimon's practice match. But I might accidently do a little during the Shin Teikoku match, so sorry.**

When Gouenji stepped onto the field, the whole atmosphere of the game changed. Raimon's members crawled back to their feet and Teikoku looked like they were finally starting to get interested in the game. I was too. I wonder whether Gouenji's footwork and Fire Tornado had rusted since last year.

Teikoku quickly stole the ball from Raimon and activated Death Zone again. Gouenji started running towards Teikoku's goal when the purple ball shot towards Endou. Kidou, Sakuma, and Genda looked shocked at his reaction, but I just smirked. His play style was still the same as before. They thought he was abandoning the game, but Gouenji Shuuya isn't a coward. I knew his plan. But did he really trust Endou?

Somehow, as if Gouenji's trust poured his fighting spirit into the boy, Endou managed to block it. Yes, he blocked Death Zone when he cou;dn't even block my warmup shoot. I was shocked, but still managed to tear my eyes away from him to Gouenji. Endou tossed the ball across the court, and the platinum haired striker accepted it. Then quickly jumping up, he used Fire Tornado to shoot for the goal. Caught by surprise, Genda was too slow to react. The ball went in.

No, Gouenji's skill hadn't detoriated at the least. In fact, it looked almost as if it was more powerful than before. Maybe it was just an illusion caused by the spirit of the game.

Suddenly, the referee announced that Teikoku will forfeit the match. Say what? It was just starting to get interesting, and somebody just had to go and forfeit? Sure, we got 19 more points than them, but I really wanted to watch Gouenji face off against Genda. The other ace striker of Kidokawa Seishuu versus the best goalie of Japan. That would have been "interesting".

I was walking back to the bus alone behind the rest of the players who were chitter chattering as they climbed aboard. "Wait!" a familiar voice called behind me. A memory instantly flashed in my mind.

_ "Come on, let's do this," the voice said. I nodded with an evil smirk. The spiky platinum haired striker running ahead turned around abruptly and kicked his signature flaming shoot in her direction. A "Heh," escaped my mouth before my foot made contact with the ball, sending it flying at the goalie in a typhoon of feathers lit up in flames._

I pretended not to hear him and kept walking. "I'd recognize those eyes anywhere, Inoue." Hearing that name, I froze up in my tracks. The boy continued, "It's been so long, I thought you left Japan or something happened to you. But why are you..." His voice trickled off, and I knew exactly the reason.

I turned my head sideways to stare back at Gouenji. My red eyes gleamed warningly. "My name is Sakurai Shizumi," I said slowly, then continued walking to the bus.

"Inoue..." Gouenji said, his voice a mix of hurt and confusion, "Don't you remember me?"

I stopped walking again. Then I finally replied, "Of course. I can never forget you. You were my best memory on the team." My voice cracked a little.

"Then why did you leave? And why are you..." he called out desperately.

"A lot of things happened that day. Your sister's accident wasn't the only one," I said, my voice steely again, "Now, if you'll excuse me." I continued waking to the bus. By now, only a few of Teikoku's players weren't filed in the bus yet.

"Inou- I mean Sakurai-san, let's do Phoenix Feather together again someday," Gouenji said. I stopped walking again and said quietly, "I don't play soccer anymore." A wet drop landed on the ground. Then I boarded the bus. Despite my cold response, Gouenji's words had reached my soul. He still remembered me. And he still wanted to play soccer together.

_Neutral POV_

Before the bus door closed right when Shizumi stepped onto the bus, Gouenji saw her head turn sideways slightly toward him. That single regretful pomegranate eye and the sad faint smile on her lips told him everything he needed to know.

_Kidou's POV_

She didn't notice me watching her through the tinted glass window of the bus. Even though I couldn't hear her conversation, it was easy to tell that she knew Gouenji. And the way she looked at him with one eye confirmed my suspicions. This was the last piece of evidence I needed to solve the puzzle. Now everything fit together. I always had a hunch that she was hiding something. Well actually, not at the start.

When she first bumped into me and apologized as if her life depended on it, I had wanted to laugh. It really was hilarious the way she looked at me with scared eyes. I don't know what, but something in me made me want to keep her in my life, so I convinced the Commander to make her Teikoku's manager instead of expelling her. Then I walked with my arm around her to our classes from first to fourth period everyday, and made her sit with us at lunch everyday too just to see her squirm. It was pure entertainment. And if I got bored, I could just invent new ways to torture her.

But then something rose my suspicions about her. The day when I played the clip of Kidokawa Seishuu's match in the Football Frontier, she acted strangely. Even with my sharp vision and quick mind, I couldn't find out what the key to Kuroi Hane Taifuu was, yet somehow she, a girl who had never played soccer before, easily did. Yes there was a possibility that she had talent for spotting details, but I had it too and I didn't see it even with my vision enhancing goggles.

When she secretly took a soccer ball after class, that just added to my suspicions even more, so I followed her. It turns out she was hiding a lot of soccer talent. But why? With her skill, she could easily join Teikoku's soccer team. And why didn't the Commander know about this? If he did, he will definitly find a way to recruit her, so why was she able to escape the Commander's grasp?

Another clue showed up when she asked me if she could borrow a soccer ball two days after I played the clip. When she returned the soccer ball, it was scruffed and she didn't have a single scratch on her other than a few bruises and the scape on her face which she already had the day before. Judging by how beaten up the soccer ball was, she must have used it for cruelty like Teikoku does at their matches. There was only one other person I knew existed to ever play soccer cruelly Teikoku style and come out unscathed.

Yes, I had figured it out. If she knew Gouenji, then she must have had history with Kidokawa Seishuu. There was only one person who went to Kidokawa Seishuu, knew about Kuroi Hane Taifuu well enough they would know the secret, was skilled enough in soccer that they could play on the Football Frontier level, used cruelty in their soccer, looked at people with a slight head turn so that a single ruby red eye could make contact, and suddenly disappeared from the soccer world after last year's Football Frontier. If you haven't figured it out yet, I'm not gonna tell you. Because then it won't be interesting~

**I'm sorry updates might be lot slower now since school is starting, but I'll do my my best to update more chapters.**


	9. Penguin Boxers and First Kisses

**This is a collab chapter with ANGELATHEOTAKU (on wattpad) since she is talking over my shoulder (=_=") so I have to give her credit since she's helping me with some sentences. And plus she's watching me type this A/N right now. So guess who's turn it is this time? You can probably tell from the title that it won't be Genda. I'll give you a clue: the penguins are blue not red. WARNING: THIS CHAPTER IS PERVERTED. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.**

_Back to Shizumi's POV_

Sheesh that annoying Kidou. It was a few weeks after the practice match with Raimon, and the Football Frontier preliminaries had already started. Teikoku was winning easily as usual, but why was I fuming, you ask? It was because a certain goggle head was always bossing me around these days. Whether it was bringing bento for the Teikoku Three at lunch or washing everybody on the team's jerseys, it was always tiring and embarrassing. I had to obey or he could just talk to the Commander and bam, I would be kissing Teikoku Gakuen good bye. And the worst part was that Kidou knew I knew it too and used it to his advantage every time, watching from above with that trademark smirk of his.

Right now, I was running around the school and checking every vending machine looking for that one brand of energy drink he requested. Che, he probably picked a drink that wasn't even sold here on purpose. But I couldn't go back empty handed, so I had to continue searching.

I decided to get some air on the balcony to calm down. As I strolled along cussing bad words about the goggle boy and trying to stop my rage, I wasn't paying attention to my footsteps and ended up tripping on a twig that must have somehow gotten blown up here. My natural instinct took over and I grabbed the thing closest to me in my reach, which turns out to be a brown cloth-like thing. As gravity pulled me down, the thing I grabbed came down with me. I closed my eyes as I hit the ground, which wasn't really all that hard since it was just a light fall.

When I opened my eyes, I saw penguins. Wait that wasn't right. My vision focused and I saw that they were truly penguin patterened boxers. Oh oops. I must have pulled someone's pants off. I'll just-HEY WAIT A SEC! I JUST PULLED A BOY'S PANTS OFF! AND HE'S GOT PENGUIN PATTERNED BOXERS!

My mind finally became sharp again, and I looked up to see...oh no, not again. Why did I always run into him at the worst time possible?

Yes, it was Kidou Yuuto AGAIN. Oh why, just why.

It was just now when I noticed how much of an awkward position we were in. When I had tried to hang on using his shorts, I must have caused him to lose his footing. So now he was sort of sitting on me in _that _position, the dirty minded readers out there will know what I mean here. And my heart was beating so fast I could feel the blood throbbing in my head, blocking out everything around me. Oh crap. Just crap.

_Kidou's POV_

I was just chilling on the balcony taking a short break from practice while waiting for Shizumi to bring back my energy drink and thinking about how to perfect Kuroi Hane Taifuu when suddenly I felt a tug on my shorts. Then my waistband slipped off my waist and my shorts fell off. JUST WTF IS HAPPENING?! Wait, it gets worst. Somehow when my pants were pulled off, they got tangled around my ankle so one tiny jerk made me lose my footing. I ended up falling on my butt, not a graceful move, mind you. If father saw me right now tangled in my shorts and flashing my penguin patterened boxers while falling at the top of the school building, he would punish me severely.

But my butt didn't land on the hard cement of the balcony's floor. Rather, something soft and delicate broke my landing slightly, so my butt still landed on the floor but my legs from mid thigh down were resting over the thing that broke my fall. OH GOD I LANDED ON A GIRL'S THIGHS. This was beyond what my mind could take in at once. Just what. The. Fuck. And of all girls in the school (which wasn't actually that much compared to the male population) it had to be Shizumi's. The one girl who made my heart go doki doki.

Wait a sec, did I really just think that?! I meant to say our manager. Yeah, that's it. That's right. Way to go, Kidou. You just landed on the girl you like in _that_ position. Wait, I MEAN OUR MANAGER! What's gotten into you, Kidou? Think straight. Deep breaths. Calm down.

Okay, I forfeit. It's impossible. And look, my sanity is gone too. I'm starting to think in third person. Just great. And she's staring at me wondering why my face is suddenly blushing and my expression keeps changing. Yeah, real smooth, Kidou. Real smooth. Get your rhythm back. Think, think like you always do in a game... got it. I plastered a smirk on my face. Time to have some fun...

_Back to Shizumi's POV_

"Ne, I never knew you wanted me so badly you'd force me into this position Shizumi-chan," teased the red caped boy. A blush shot up my face. If you think about it, it does seem like I planned it all out, which of course I didn't.

I waved my hands in front of my face. "It isn't what you think!" I told him in a flustered voice. That only seemed to make him more amused as if adding gasoline to fire.

He leaned close to my face I could feel his breath tickle my lips. I couldn't move since his legs held me in place. "Don't worry, I want you too," Kidou said raspily. The dangerous edge in his voice put me in alert mode, but my body froze up as if it was paralyzed. He was so close I could see his eyes through the tinted goggles. Have I ever noticed that they were a gorgeous pomegranate color like polished ruby? Then as if happening in slow motion but also as if it passed in the blink of an eye, Kidou pressed his lips to mine.

Finally, he pulled away. Then he stood up and pulled his shorts back up (remember? Kidou was in his underwear the whole time), and all I could do was stare at him idiotically as my brain was still trying to process what just happened. "Ja ne," he said casually with a wave as he walked away.

As the cool breeze blew by, I raised my hand and gently traced my lip where his touched mine. I sat there dumbfounded, the previous events playing over and over in my mind. Kidou had just stolen my first kiss. And somehow, even though he always annoys me by toying with me just for his own entertainment, I kind of liked it.

**Sorry I didn't update yesterday. I had a sleepover with ANGELATHEOTAKU so I didn't have time to finish this chapter last last night. And sorry if this chapter was a little short.**


	10. Why Did You Leave, Inoue?

**This chapter will be VERY SHORT since I am trying to squeeze in one more chapter before school starts (nooooooooooo!). As you can kind of tell, I'm altering between serious/mystery (Shizumi's secret) and romance scenes. This one is not exactly any of the two, but I guess you can count it as part of the Shizumi's Secret puzzle. **

_Gouenji's POV_

Inoue, why? I have so many questions to ask you, yet you seem to want to keep your existence a secret. I know you miss me too, that ruby red eye of yours never lie. When it held onto mine, I felt as if we were the only ones in this world. A feeling I missed. The world used to revolve around us, since we were the truimph cards who brought us victory every time. But we were truly as one when we used Phoenix Feather, the strongest hissatsu the Football Frontier has seen before. It was a move that only we could use, a combination of our signature moves, your Kuroi Hane Taifuu and my Fire Tornado.

You were my best friend. Why did you leave? And why did you lie to us?

I still remember when we used to hang out on the roof of the school together. You always said that was your favorite spot. You said you could see the whole world like that, and the sky above us made us all the same, a united force like us. Back then I had no idea why you said those words. You were the only person who could match up to me in soccer, so why would you need the feeling of belonging when you were better than everyone else?

Now that I joined Raimon, I understand. Everyone must work together, it doesn't matter if you were the bench warmer or the ace striker. A team must win together, as a united force. If someone was out of place, than the whole team crumbles. Was that why you tricked us? Did you want to be part of the team?

I'm sure someday you'll tell me why you lied to us and left. But until that day, I won't forget you. I wish we could play soccer together again like we used to, and use Phoenix Feather together again. I miss you Inoue.

**This chapter revealed A LOT. It's just Gouenji's thoughts. Wahh, school starts tomorrow so updates are gonna be a lot slower now :(**


	11. Reflections

**Going to be a short "thoughts" chapter again because I need to link the chapter before this to the next chapter (which will be the match against Zeus) when everything comes together and unravels. It will either be super loooooong or have two parts like the Raimon versus Teikoku practice match.**

_Shizumi's POV_

Today was the preliminary finals of Raimon versus Teikoku. I was confident Teikoku would win after seeing how weak Raimon was last time, but something about Endou, and maybe Gouenji joining the team made me doubt our definite victory a little. Oh well, I'm sure they will be fine even though they still couldn't master Kuroi Hane Taifuu.

Right now, I was sitting on the roof my house looking at the peaceful, beautiful ble sky. The top of buildings had always been my favorite spot. I still remember sitting on the roof of my old school Kidokawa Seisuu with my best friend the other ace striker. When I was there, I always felt as if I belonged, that I didn't need to hide my identity. That I could play on the same field as everyone.

Today, I feigned sickness since I didn't want to face my old friend yet. I wasn't ready to tell him everything yet. But I will someday. I promise. Not just him, but Sakuma and Genda and even Kidou too, but most importantly, myself. I need to accept the fact that I could never really be like him. When I can convince myself that soccer was over for me and that I need to live my life a female manager, then I will tell them. You can't fight against genes. I had been trying so hard to defy god's chosen path for me for so long. Even now. No matter how much I try to convince myself, soccer is still my everything. I still can't see Gouenji as a boy, only as a best friend.

If only I was born differently. Than I could play on the same field as everyone where my heart truly belonged.

**Yeah this chapter pretty much revealed everything except the reasons behind them if you didn't know Shizumi's secret already. Oh my gosh, I can't wait to write the next chapter. I had been planning it for so long already. The match against Zeus has actually one of the first scenes that popped in my mind when I thought up this story. **


	12. Defying the Gods

**It's finally here! The match of Teikoku versus Zeus where all of Shizumi's secrets reveal themselves and the reasons behind them. **

What?! Teikoku lost to Raimon?! It was the day after the match, also known as the day which the finalist teams were announced and presented to the public. Sakuma just told me the news, and I could barely believe it. He also told me a bunch of other stuff, something about not working under Kageyama anymore and that Raimon almost died since the ceiling fell off or something like that, but I could barely understood as he was talking so fast and Genda kept on cutting in and talking over him. I wish I had been their yesterday to see what really happened. Well, at least Teikoku still can still compete since they were the champions last year.

I sat at school in one of the classrooms with a few others who were also interested in watching the TV broadcasting team announcements. There were 16 teams in total competing, and Raimon was there too, including Endou and Gouenji. But something strange immediately sent me on alert. The last team to be announced, a team recommended by the committee called Zeus Junior High, didn't show any of their players. The announcer told everyone that it was because Zeus could not make it today, but I knew what Zeus was actually plotting. It was the same strategy I had used for years. Don't show your moves to the opponent first, always observe from a distance before you strike.

Later in the day when the soccer club came back, Kidou told me to stay after practice. At first I thought he was just going to make me do more of his ideas of fun to make my life worst, but then something about his tone and the way he stared at me, emitting a different aura even though I couldn't see his eyes through the goggles, told me that it was something important and serious.

_Time Skip_

"Minna, rest well tonight! Tomorrow is the first round of the official Football Frontier and we have to win this time!" the brown haired captain shouted to the team after practice. When everyone had left to either the clubroom or the main building, I walked up to Kidou. "What is it?" I asked quietly so that nobody could overhear.

"I want you to play as a sub for the official rounds," he replied in a volume that matched mine.

I was quiet surprised that he would say this, and felt alarmed at once. He must have somehow figured out my secret. Well, I did have the suspicion that he would since he had the brain of a genius, but I didn't actually prepare for the fact that he would.

I smirked revealing my left canine teeth in a way that was so not Shizumi. "So you figured it out. Seems you've done your research well, but you should know that I don't play soccer anymore."

For a second, he looked a little scared at my sudden change in aura from that shy girl to this, a side I hadn't shown in such a long time since...a long time ago. "Then wear the Teikoku jersey under your manager tracksuit tomorrow. I'll give it to you tomorrow morning disguised as a box of chocolates," he told me, "Only reveal yourself if it's really necessary."

"So you also sensed it, right?" I asked, my tone dropping even more serious and grave. He nodded. "Something evil is hiding in the Football Frontier. We have to be careful."

_Time Skip to Next Morning_

As we were waiting in a random crowd for the bus driver to get here in front of the school, Kidou walked up to me as we agreed to. "Yesterday I noticed you staring at the chocolates on display in a sweet store when we went for a walk, so I bought this for you," he said, or more like announced actually, and pulled a flat box out of his bag and handed it to me.

I felt bad for agreeing to this "fake relationship" with Kidou so that nobody would get suspicious. Right now, I saw with the corner of my eye Genda glaring at us with an expression of rage with his arms crossed. Behind me, I could almost feel the anger and jealousy radiating off of Sakuma as he drilled a hole (figuratively of course) behind my head with his piercing amber eye.

Plastering on a fake smile, I replied, "Arigatou, Kidou-kun! I'll put it in my locker right now." Then before I could catch another glimpse of Sakuma or Genda's reaction to me calling Kidou "Kidou-kun", I dashed off into the main building, which we had left unlocked yesterday. I hope nobody noticed that it should have been locked, because we had just decided to take chances with this.

Luckily, no one did, and once I put on the jersey in the girl's bathroom, I slipped my manager tracksuit over it, and looked in the mirror and took a breath. It was showtime. No matter what, I knew my secret would be out in this year's Football Frontier, I just had the feeling it would. Now all that mattered was how soon it will be, and what will happen to my reputation afterwards. It would be impossible to hide my identity again after all the publicity that would happen.

Just as I dashed out the school building I saw the last of Teikoku boarding the bus, with Kidou talking to the bus driver to buy me time and stealing glances out the window to see if I had came out yet. Quickly, I slipped in the door and into the only seat which was not occupied, the seat next to Kidou's. Under the rumble of the starting of the engine, Kidou whispered to me, "Stay low key and study the teams as you watch our games." "You think I don't do that already?" I rolled my eyes, for there was no more need to pretend to be an innocent little girl with Kidou anymore. Then I looked out the window as we drove to the Football Frontier Stadium, blocking out all the chattering of the soccer club. This sure brings back memories. And I was sure that more would come back once we start playing the first match in the main stadium.

_Time Skip_

I felt shivers up my spine as our players collapsed one by one in front of my eyes. Yet it was as if the starting whistle had just been blown, which it had only around twenty minutes ago. Kidou, who had injured his leg in the earlier match sat by me, serving as a reserve in this match. I could see that he was shaking. It wasn't even half time yet, and the only person who could still stand was Genda. This play was truly deadly. The other team was ahead of us by 10 points while we didn't even get a chance to shoot. Maybe the time to reveal myself came quicker than I thought. I clench my jaws and dug my nails into my palm. "Not yet," I repeated to myself in a low growl at a volume that only I could hear.

The striker of the other team, which was "coincidently" Zeus, walked up to the penalty box. I could barely see how, but it was as if he had sent our midfielders flying with just a snap of his fingers. He was fast, but not fast enough. I knew how to stop that move now. It just required speed, which was exactly my specialty.

"I am going to give you the chance to give up. There is nothing shameful about bowing down to a god. It is only normal that you humans would lose to us gods," the boy, whose name I learned was Aphrodi, said to Genda.

"Like hell am I going to do that!" he shouted, despite being bruised all over and clutching an injured upper arm.

"If that is your choice, then it must be. The gods will teach you to never try to challenge us again!" Aphrodi said, then jumped up with the ball as if he was spreading wings. I knew that if he shot one more time, especially if this was a hissatsu move which it was definitly, then Genda's soccer career would be over.

Before I realized it, I stood up and shouted, "Wait!" Aphrodi floated back to the ground, and the crowd went silent. All eyes turned toward me. Even Kidou was shocked. I unzipped my jacket and threw it off, "I am subbing in for foward Jimon."

There was an awkward silence as the crowd whispered among themselves. What was this manager doing? A girl in the Football Frontier? Was this even allowed in the rules of the tournament?

Finally, Kakuma broke the silence. "This is unheard of! A girl in the Football Frontier? Let's see if the rules have anything against it." He quickly flipped through a little booklet. "Ah there!" he finally said, "Let's see...No participants shall be discriminated based on ethinicity, gender, race, or physical size. So she may play! Wait a sec...," he flipped through another booklet, "...The manager of Teikoku Gakuen, Sakurai Shizumi, will sub in for the foward Jimon!"

The game was paused as Kidou helped Jimon back to the bench and I laced on my black and white cleats, the pair that had a special design that would put less damage onto my toes. The ones that had led me here last year. Now I was back to finish the job. The Death Bringer was back.

**Sorry for not updating for so long. I barely got any chances to write for a long time (I need to at least sit here for an hour or else the chapter doesn't flow well if I write it separately) and I've just got a Google+ (the link to it is on my profile page if you're interested) so I've been tinkering on it so I'm sorry if my word flow is not as smooth. The next chapter is going to be EPIC though. **


	13. Death Bringer

I stood on the field in Jimon's spot. This feeling of long ago came back to me. Everything, the Football Frontier Satdium, Kakuma's voice, seeing the other team's goalie. It was all in place. Everything but the players. There was no Gouenji to run ahead of me, and the only teammate I had now who could still play was Kidou, who had subbed in for Doumen, and Genda who could barely stand, let alone take on another shoot.

The referee blew the whistle, and the game continued. I did the kickoff to Kidou and we started making our way across the field. It had only been three seconds since he had possesion of the ball when a player of Zeus slid and stole the ball from him. But I had already anticipated this, thus once he slid and just barely touched the ball, I had already dashed behind Kidou. I quickly cut in and stole the ball, then continued down the field.

"What is this?!" Kakuma shouted, "For the first time in the Football Frontier, Zeus loses control over the ball!" All the members of Teikoku jolted their head up or crawled up to see despite being injured badly. They all wore the same expression of dismay.

I had barely taken a few steps with the ball when an evil grin streched onto my face and my eyes seemed to glow. "Let me show you the real Kuroi Hane Taifuu," I said and shot it. Sakuma and Jimon's eyes widened. I was really far from where people usually tried to shoot, but I knew it was enough. Heck, I could shoot from the defense area and still make it in with this hisstatsu.

As the ball exploded off my foot, a gust of wind and black feathers swirled around it and sent everyone in the way flying before they could even attempt to defend the goal. It shot past Zeus' goalie Poseidon's ear and into the goal. He looked at me shocked with mouth hanging open.

"What just happend?!" Kakuma screamed. The whole crowd was also in shock. "That was so fast I almost missed it! But it almost looked like the phantom hissatsu Kuroi Hane Taifuu! Could it have resurfaced after all this time? And just who is this girl?"

Aphrodi whirled around. His calm collected aura had changed into panic and shock. I looked up and saw the Commander with a surprised face, an expression I had never seen on him before. I smirked at him. He saw me and glared. Then he mouthed, "You'll pay for this." I glared back murderously with my ruby red eyes and he slunked back.

When Poseidon had regained composure, he tossed the ball back to me. "Kick it again, I'll stop it this time. You just caught me by shock, that's all. But I'll show you that you'll never beat a god."

"Oh, you wanna bet?" I replied, "I'll show you the true terror of the Death Bringer."

"True terror? Could she mean that move? The one that will make you forever scarred for life?" Kakuma exclaimed. It was so terrifying that even he didn't dare say it's name.

"I'll never forgive your team for hurting Teikoku," I said and spun the ball up. Bloodstained cherry blossom petals started gathering around it in a swirl. The crowd was silent, some watching with anticipation, others who know this with fear. Poseidon, being clueless of what I was going to do, sneered, "Whatever hissatsu you attempt will all fail against a god."

"Your loss," I said and my foot made contact with the ball. It streamed effortlessly toward Poseidon with the bloodstained sakura petals trailing behind. It looked totally harmless, but the true terror lay inside.

_Poseidon's POV_

The ball came at me, and I was going to stop it with one hand. No girl was going to get the better of me, of a god.

But then something strange happened. A feeling washed over me. It made my knees weak, yet I was frozen to the spot. I felt everything happening in slow motion as if I was living in a dream. I thought I heard organ notes chiming as if calling me to my death and my vision blurred with splotches of red. Splotches of blood. It was just a hallucination, but this feeling was clear. It was fear. For the first time, I was afraid.

I was terrified, yet I couldn't run away. At the last second, my steroid enhanced body realized that the ball was just about to enter the net. I raised a hand in front of it and the ball bounced away. Instantly, the hallucination was gone as if it was never there, but I could still remember that fear so clearly I was still afraid.

I collapsed onto my knees and covered my face with my hands. "It's okay, I'm fine," I whispered to myself, yet I didn't believe it even one bit. Then I heard Aphrodi's voice, "Hurry up and throw it over! You blocked it! What's going on?"

I looked up to try to tell my captain that it was alright, but all I saw was the girl, no the Death Bringer, staring at me in that solemn way from above. "No please, don't use it again. I'm sorry!" I cried out. She didn't reply, only kept that cold gaze on me.

_Aphrodi's POV_

I could instantly tell that something was wrong. Poseidon blocked it so easily, and the shot looked no different than a normal shoot other than the bloostained petals trailing behind it. So what was going on? Why did he look so afraid? I had never seen our goalie looked like this before.

"What did you do?" I demanded. Sakurai only turned to face me, her face cold and expressionless. "Chi Sakura Mai, my hissatsu move," she replied.

"There's no doubt about it! Inoue Shizuro, the other ace striker of Kidokawa Seishuu, is back!" Kakuma shouted. The crowd was in a commotion. I've heard legends of this striker, the one who wore the number 13 jersey, the one who mysteriously dissapeared after last year's Football Frontier. Now that I looked, I noticed that Sakurai was wearing the number 13. She caught me staring and smiled softly. "That's right, I'm Inoue Shizuro."

"Now everyone is confused! Why is the ace striker of Kidokawa Seishuu back on Teikoku's side as a girl?! Someone please explain!" Kakuma's voice floated over the conversations in the bleachers, "Ah, here is the coach of Kidokawa Seishuu! Maybe he can clear the confusion!"

A man with blue hair stepped to the mike. He's eyes met Sakurai's and she nodded. "It's true, Inoue Shizuro was a girl," he announced. The crowd broke into roars and cameras were turned toward the black haired girl, who stood unfazed by this.

The coach held a hand up and continued, shushing the crowd, "Sakurai disguised herself as a boy and enrolled at Kidokawa Seishuu. She was only brought out in the second half if the team was behind by at least a point, and she would always bring them victory no matter what, thus earning the title Death Bringer. People have always criticized that her hissatsu Chi Sakura Mai should be forbidden since no goalie who had intercepted it had been the same after, some growing afraid and quitting soccer and others becoming distant from people. But then on the day of the Football Frontier finals, one goalie who had just recently faced Kidokawa Seishuu committed suicide. The Football Frontier committee was informed and decided that her team should be banned from competing last year. After that, she was too ashamed to show her face at the Football Frontier, so she quit Kidokawa Seishuu and transfered to Teikoku Gakuen as her real identity, Sakurai Shizumi, to start over. The reason why her parents were never heard of again was because they moved to Europe to prevent people from finding the connection."

The man backed away from the mike to show that he was finished. I turned back to Sakurai who was looking down her cleats. "Oi, stop pitying yourself! We have a game to continue!" I shouted, "Poseidon, give me the ball already!"

Everyone was a little shocked at my outburst, but the referee blew the whistle to continue the game. Poseidon reached out for the soccer ball, then shrunk away as if it was a monster. "Hurry up, _Poseidon,_" I said impatietly, emphasizing his god nickname to remind him that we were gods here and gods don't bow to humans. He hesitated, then with shaking hands, he threw the ball over to me.

_Shizumi's POV_

It was all out. Teikoku looked at me some with fear, some with rage, and some with shock. I didn't blame them, they had all reasons to hate me for lying and fear me. I was responsible for a death after all, not directly, but I still caused it. I looked down to avoid everyone's stares.

Suddenly, Aphrodi's voice cut in, "Oi, stop pitying yourself! We have a game to continue! Poseidon, give me the ball already!" With fear in his eyes, Poseidon followed his captain's orders and tossed the ball over. Right, it was still in the middle of a game. I could deal with everything later.

"Now, let's continue where we left off last time, shall we?" Aphrodi asked Genda. My eyes widened and I ran as quick as I could, but I knew I could not get all the way there before he shot. "Don't! You'll break his arm!" I shouted desperately. Aphrodi paused, but his foot was still in position. "I won't shoot if you forfeit," he said calmly.

This was blackmail. I narrowed my eyes, but he only looked at me warningly, daring me to move. I glanced at Kidou. For once, the smarty-ass captain seemed to not know what to do. Next, I moved my gaze to the Commander, who was smiling in a sinister way. He was so sure that Teikoku was going to forfeit, I shouldn't give him the glory. But then I turned to Genda, who took all his strength just to stand up, then at Sakuma, who was already on the ground just barely conscious. Slowly, my tense body relaxed and I said, " forfeit."

The referee blew his whistle, and the game was over. Aphrodi's body also relaxed, and Genda collapsed to the ground. "Genda!" Kidou shouted and rushed over to his friend. The rest of Teikoku was carted off in an ambulance. I stood on the field, blocking the reporters and sirens out as white noise. A wet drop landed next to my foot. There was no way I could bare to see everyone now, and after my identity was uncovered on television, there was no way to hide myself again. I had to live the rest of my life in shame now.


	14. Can I Still Play Soccer?

**Am I the only one who finds it such a perfect coincidence that the chapter Death Bringer is the 13th chapter? I didn't plan it ahead of time to be like this, but somehow the timing just lined it up. Updates will slow to one or two chapters a week now.**

I had left the stadium with Kidou in Nikaidou-kantoku's car. He had been nice and volunteered to drive us to Teikoku without us even asking, the same good old coach I had always known. The only other one who used to know my true identity.

A silence passed between us in the car. It wasn't exactly awkward, but Nikaidou-kantoku kept glancing at us in the mirror to check if we were alright. Me and Kidou sat far from each other, both of us hunched over with elbows on knees. We were both grieving and replaying the previous events in our head, except he was probably thinking of his teammates while I was dreading what was to become of me after my public reveal.

When we got to Teikoku, we thanked Nikaidou-kantoku and he drove away. We then wordlessly walked into the empty school and down the hall. We both knew where we were heading, and somehow upon some unsaid agreement, we went to the indoor soccer field where Teikoku practiced after school each day.

He was the first to break the silence. "Shizumi-chan," he said but his voice cracked. I didn't reply, only kept my gaze on the ground and let my bangs hang over so that they would cover my eyes. "How could we have lost?" the captain of Teikoku asked. He sounded so hollow and broken.

"I'm sorry I wasn't of any help," I replied quietly. He looked at me as if shocked, then grasped my shoulders and shook me as he shouted in my face, "Don't you get it?! We lost! Teikoku lost! And my teammates are all injured so much worst than my own leg that they all had to be sent to the emergency room!"

I was silent for a while. This was a new side of Kidou I had never seen before, hysterial, chaotic, and not in control. Finally, I raised my head to look up at him through my bangs. "I'll repeat what I said. I'm sorry I wasn't of any help. Now get a hold of yourself."

He pulled me closer. "How can I get a hold of myself when my best friends are not okay?!" he shouted. I could tell that some tears probably came out, but I couldn't be sure since I couldn't see past the goggles.

"Look, you can't change what happened! So stop grieving and pull yourself together!" I finally shout back and slapped his hand away, exhasperated. I instantly regretted it after seeing his hurt expression. My face softened, and I said, "Sorry, Kidou-san."

Just then, we heard footsteps echo in the large hall, meaning that someone was coming to the field. We both turned out heads just in time to see a confused Endou run in. "Kidou!" the Raimon goalie shouted. Then he drew a breath back when he noticed I was there too.

"Yo, Endou," Kidou finally replied, his voice bittersweet, "Have you come to laugh at me?" Endou started trembling at the response he got, then quickly shook out of it. "Of course not!" his voice shouted powerful in this gigantic room. The boy then dropped the soccer ball he was holding and kicked it at Kidou. Instead of stepping aside or kicking it back, Kidou just let it knock him backward pitifully. The ball rolled to my feet, and I picked it up. I stared at the shiny surface of the familiar black and white ball. Can I play soccer again? After all the shame of the Death Bringer losing by forfeit and bad publicity that will sure make me infamous in Japan, soccer seemed almost distant.

On the side, Kidou stood up slowly. "Today we brought the legend of Teikoku to an end. The match was over before we could even touch the ball. When we went on the field, my other team members were already down. The only point we got was from Shizumi-chan."

Endou turned his attention to me. "You played?" he asked. I couldn't nod, couldn't open my mouth to say yes, and that I also lost the title Death Bringer by not bringing my team victory. All I could do was stare at the ground.

"My soccer is over," Kidou answered in my place. "That's not true," Endou told him, "As long as you don't abandon soccer it will always be yours." My ears perked up when I heard those words. I had thought my soccer was over too, yet Endou's words shone hope over me. Finally, I dared to raise my head. He met my eye. "That's right," he said to me with a smile, "As long as you don't abandon soccer it will always be yours. My grandfather always said that, and I think it's true!" I smiled faintly at his words.

_Time Skip to Tomorrow_

I stood next to Kidou, the pole blocking us from view. Yes, I was spying on Raimon practice like Kidou always did. After all, what else could I do than follow Kidou around town? Teikoku Gakuen had been shut down because of the leave of the Commander, so we could spend our days any way we wanted until the board decided what to do with us. Some students transfered, while others roamed the streets like us. I had on a slate gray hoodie with a checkerboard design and the hood pulled over to hide my face leaving only bits of my black hair peeking out in case of news reporters. Paired with black jeans and dark gray Converse, I could almost be mistaken for a boy.

All of a sudden, a girl with blue hair wearing a green tracksuit ran up to us. Crap, we've been found by one of those girls I saw during the Raimon versus Teikoku practice match whose name I forgot. "Onii-chan, what are you hiding behind there for?" she scolded. Ah, wait what? Kidou had a sister? I thought he was an only child! Wait, I think I can just faintly remember Sakuma or Genda telling me something about this after the preliminary finals. Her name was...Ha...Haru...Haru... something. I forgot. I really need to get rid of this bad habit of drowning everything out as white noise.

Kidou started walking down the street and this "Haru-something" girl followed. Having nothing else to do, I walked behind them a few steps, for I didn't want to disturb their "brother-sister time". Oh how I miss Yuuka-chan, I wonder how she's been doing...

We ended up at the river bank. I sat on the slope while Kidou and his sister conversed about Teikoku's match against Zeus. It was a sad topic, but it felt peaceful listening to them talk as the wind blew across my face. Then a ball of fire which I at first thought was the Sun coming for us shot towards Kidou. When it got nearer and made impact with Kidou's foot as he reflected it back, I realized that it was a soccer ball. Or more precisely, the one and only Fire Tornado. My head jerked up and I looked around, then finally, my eyes landed on that familiar figure standing on the bridge. Gouenji.

He came down to us, and led Kidou down to the soccer field below. Unknowing what to do, I followed the boys even though Kidou had told the blue haired girl to stay behind. Wow, he doesn't even bother to care about me. Actually, since when did I care? He never gave a shit about me before either.

"Kidou, are you really that angry!" Gouenji shouted as he kicked the ball toward us. I was about to kick it back when Kidou jumped in front of me and kicked it before I could. "Of course!" the boy with dreadlocks screamed hysterically like yesterday. "Inoue, I saw a replay of the match. You're pathetic. Since when did the Death Bringer ever forfeit?!" Gouenji shouted again and picked the ball to us. I ran in front of Kidou and shot it back at the platinum haired boy. "Don't call me the Death Bringer ever again. I didn't bring death, I don't deserve the title anymore," I replied in that calm, steely manner, but anger was creeping dangerously at the edge of my voice. You don't want to be on the Death Bringer, no Inoue's, bad side. Gouenji knew that.

"So you admit your defeat!" Gouenji screamed. His accusation drilled directly into my heart. I knew it was true, and he knew that I knew too. My eyes widened as he jumped up and spun, fire building up around him. Then he shot his signature move at me, directly at me. My instincts from long ago sprang back out and I immediately stepped up and used mine. I felt that familiar feeling of Fire Tornado clashing with Kuroi Hane Taifuu on my toe before exploding off and shooting out in a flaming fire ball with feathers burning in flames trailing behind it.

There was that moment of glory as this fire ball streamed across the field, all the way into the empty goal. Finally after a few seconds, Kidou gaped and breathed in a tremebling voice, "Phoenix Feather? The strongest and fastest combination hissatsu move recorded in the Football Frontier, it's speed only second to Kuroi Hane Taifuu?"

"Hai. Don't you remember what you said Phoenix Feather represented?" Gouenji asked me with a grin. "Strength and rebirth," I replied. "That's right. If you can still use Phoenix Feather, than you can still play soccer. If the phoenix can find a new life, so can you," he said.


	15. BONUS BEHIND THE SCENES

**This isn't part of the story, so I will write this whole chapter in bold to prevent confusion. It's about Shizumi's character design, and some fun facts during the process of creating her.**

**1) Her last name was at first going to be Kobayashi**

**2) I chose Sakurai because there was supposed to be a secret well in this cherry blossom park where she goes to when she's sad or angry like when Kidou bosses her around, but then I accidently left it out and got too lazy to put it back in**

**3) She was never originally supposed to have a background story. She was just supposed to be this random girl, but then I needed something to make her scoring a point from Zeus reasonable (which was a scene I had planned out long before) so I gave her this past, but then I started liking it and started building the story on it**

**4) Her harem was at first planned to be bigger, consisting of Genda, Sakuma, Kidou, Narukami, Sakiyama, Fudou, and possibly Henmi**

**5) The first scene I ever thought up was the whole Teikoku team being mean to her and making her take home all the uniforms to wash, making her parents suspicious. But then it got changed when Sakuma was really nice to her in the second chapter, so the clothes washing thing was only mentioned and I had to ditch whole idea of her crying at being bullied**

**6) If you take every individual kanji of her name, then it is: sakura; well; silent/quiet; beauty. I based upon those kanji to make her boy name, which is: well; up/above; silent/quiet; son. Shizuro was a boy version of name Shizumi, and both Sakurai and Inoue has the kanji "well" in it. Her parents call her "Shizu" because it is in both in her boy and girl name.**

**7) Her name means "the quiet beauty of the sakura well". Her boy name means "the silent boy above the well"**

**8) Her hissatsu Chi Sakura Mai is based on her last name and her eyes**

**9) Truthfully, I like her boy name better than her girl name**

**10) I'm making a prequel to Life As Teikoku's Manager about Shizumi's life at Kidokawa Seishuu called The Untold Tale of Kidokawa Seishuu. I already wrote the first chapter, but I'm going to post it after the whole "Inoue is Shizumi" thing blows over in my fic (like during the Aliea arc or the FFI) because I don't want to give too much away**


	16. Back at the Football Frontier

**By the way, now you get why Shizumi liked to blend into the crowd in Teikoku. It was because she didn't want to attract attention to herself. Back to the main story!**

_Neutral POV, Time Skip to Tommorow_

"Kantoku! Why can't we start the game?" Kazemaru asked. "But all of us are already here!" Somoeka complained, "Oh wait. Where's Kabeyama and Gouenji?" "Kabeyama's in the bathroom, but he'll be back soon. But where's Gouenji?" someone called out. Now everyone was in a frenzy. How could they play if their ace striker wasn't here?

"Sorry, I'm late. I hope you don't mind Inoue joining us," a deep voice interupted. Everyone turned to look, and saw their spiky haired striker with his hand on the back of a boy with shoulder length black hair and red eyes. The boy glared at Gouenji, and said menacingly, "Sakurai Shizumi." Gouenji scratched his head. "Uh right," he said, "Sakurai will be helping us if that's okay with you, Kantoku. She already transfered to Raimon before the match began, so it will be alright."

While Hibiki looked at the boy, he gasped as he recognized the face. Then he gained composure as replied, "Yes, she will be helpful for scoring a goal against such a tough defense." "Eh, he's a she?" everybody on the team exclaimed.

"Wait, I know this face! The same aura, the same eyes, it's Inoue, number 13 of Kidokawa Seishuu! After disapearing from the soccer world after the Football Frontier last year, he is back, officially on Raimon this time!" Kakuma exclaimed over the microphone. Then some person whispered something into the announcers ear, and he blushed. "Right, I mean she! This is Inoue's real gender, which was revealed in the Zeus versus Teikoku match. Please excuse me, it is my instinct to call this face Inoue's..."

Suddenly, Aki interupted us, "Wait, I think I've seen her before somewhere..." "I believe we met during the Raimon versus Teikoku practice match, Sakurai said. It took a second for everyone's brains to click. Finally, they all screeched, "You're Teikoku's manager!" "Kantoku, are you sure we should let her on the team? She wasn't there when Raimon won against Teikoku, so she could be working for Kageyama. And are you sure she even knows how to play soccer?" Somoeka shouted at Hibiki.

"Oh she knows, all right. She's on the same level as me, maybe even better. But she has a special requirement, is that okay, kantoku?" Gouenji replied for his coach. "Hai," Hibiki said, "You want to get your nickname back right? And you want to regain your lost reputation too?" Sakurai nodded. "Then you can start the first half on the bench," was Hibiki's final comment.

_Shizumi's POV_

I sat down between Endou and Gouenji. "Gouenji, stop draping an arm around my shoulder! I told you, just treat me the same as before!" I complained to the platinum haired striker. "But they're all staring suspiciously at you. If they know you have my approval, then they will accept you into the team," he replied, chuckling as he knew that I hated being touched by boys like this. I rolled my eyes. "I don't need approval from the team!" I hissed at him, "You told me if I go in and get enough goals for Raimon to win, then I can fight Zeus!" His expression turned solemn. "Do you really think you don't need the team?" he asked with a tone that surprised me, "It may be like that before at Kidokawa Seishuu, but here at Raimon, every person must be connected to form one force." "I don't need the others to pass to me much anyway, just a punt here and a kick there. I'm a libero, remember?" I answered, rolling my eyes again. "You'll see what I mean," Gouenji said, then stopped talking.

Endou turned to face me. "Pss!" he whispered. I glanced at him. "What?" I asked, annoyed by Gouenji. "I'm glad I can finally see you play! But what nickname was Hibiki-kantoku talking about?" he asked, still in a whisper. I froze up. If I told them, than they might hate me for using soccer to hurt people, even though I can't help it. "Death Bringer," Gouenji replied lazily for me. Endou's eyes lit up. "Really? Guys, the Death Bringer is playing on our team!"

They started crowding around me. I just shook my head and facepalmed. So much for being quiet, Endou. Thanks a lot. "Death Bringer, isn't that the joker of Kidokawa Seishuu?" a tall, lanky boy with aquamarine hair asked. I recognized him as Domon, the spy Teikoku sent to Raimon. Thankfully, Gouenji changed the topic to pull the attention away from me. "Hey, why aren't we starting yet? We're going to be eliminated if we don't start soon," he asked the coach. I gave him a small smile of gratitude, and he smiled back.

"We're waiting for one more person," was the coach's reply, and he refused to say anymore no matter how much the team complained and pestered him. "Ugh, should I go check on him? He probably got his cape stuck in the door or something," I asked Gouenji when no on was listening. "Do you think he might have chickened out?" Gouenji asked me with a worried tone. "No, Kidou wouldn't do that. I know he would come even if he is afraid. I saw in his eyes how much he wanted to get revenge for his friends," I replied, but deep down, I was worried too.

"Thirty seconds remaining!" the referee told us. My god, how slow does he have to be? Sure, I get the whole dramatic entrance concept, which is something I know Kidou would probably do, but does he have to do it with such a big risk? Imagine if he came out a second too late. Then Raimon would have to forfeit and his whole entrance would be useless. Stupid Kidou. Yet somehow, he's always on my mind. I hate him, hate him, hate him so much. Everything about him is annoying. The air he puts up, his controlling aura, that smirk I want to slap off every time, you name it.

Suddenly, Hibiki said, "He's here." I heard footsteps approach, those familiar clipping sounds as his cleats touched the floor. Even his footsteps annoy me, I would recognize them anywhere. Probably because he always walks with me to classes in Teikoku, which by the way was not my choice. That rhythmn was already burned into my head, I can detect him walking down the hallways even if I am digging in my locker.

A chorus of "Ehh?!" rang out through Raimon when they saw the goggle head with his cape blowing valiantly in the wind. "Told 'ya he'd come," I smirked at Gouenji. Whispers swept threw the audience, and Kakuma started fussing at something, which I completely blocked out. Come on, you barely make a deal when I show up, even though you did when I showed up the first time, but then you come and rouse up a gigantic deal when Kidou comes? Unfair. But it was true Kidou was a lot more famous than me this year since I became pretty much just a phantom striker when I left the soccer world, while Kidou's fame had been growing nonstop.

After a little more talking, the match against Senbayama finally started with me, a boy with long purple hair, a boy with puffy orange hair, and a boy who looked like a nerd on the bench. They sat a little distance away from me, probably scared or just shy, though I'm willing to bet it's the first. After watching for two minutes, I shook my head. Raimon sucked. Probably even more than when Teikoku fought them the first time. Their timing was totally off and the passes were plain horrible. Why did Gouenji join such a crappy team? After watching for a few more minutes, I noticed that their play was actually fine, decent even, but something was off. I couldn't pinpoint what, though. I knew it was the timing, but what was causing it?

Another minute passed, Raimon still dangling like a loose thread, and Senbayama scored a point. I heard it was impossible to get a ball into Senbayama's goal, so Raimon probably needed me. But could they last until the second half? I'm sure I could probably get two, or even three goals in, but if they let more pass, then Raimon would probably lose.

Then something weird caught my eyes. Kidou walked to different midfielders and said something to each of them quietly. They all looked like they didn't know what to do with Kidou's words. What was the idiot doing? Now isn't the time to spread his "wisdom", aka brag or insult, to his new teammates. Then he smiled, like he had just finished a job well done.

Gouenji started the kickoff, and soon it was stolen by Senbayama. But then a boy from Raimon stole it back. All of a sudden, it seemed like Kidou was a different person. He started shouting commands at them, not the bossy ones he usually directs to me, but ones as if he was a general going to war. It was so intriguing, I couldn't tear my eyes off the field. Raimon seemed completely different now too. They actually looked like a team worthy of the finals.

Raimon's pink haired foward shot, but it was blocked easily by the goalie. Of course, you can't expect a normal hissatsu to break through the best defense in Japan. A few moments later, Raimon tried again, this time with a combination shoot where Pink Hair used his hissatsu to pass to Gouenji, who then used Fire Tornado on it. I felt slightly offended that he had created a joint hissatsu with someone else, and that that someone else was a lot weaker at soccer than me or him. Back at Kidokawa Seishuu, it was always him and me. We were the only ones who could play on the same level and everybody trailed behind.

The ball didn't go in again. Pink Haired's shoot wasn't strong enough, even when combined with Gouenji's. I started stretching my arms, for I already knew that I would be called in to play for the second half. The problem with Senbayama's Infinite Wall was that it took time for the towers to rise up. Kuroi Hane Taifuu was fast enough to go in before the hisstatsu was complete. The advantage of Kuroi Hane Taifuu was that it was quick and often took people by surprise, but if you see it's real strength, it's a lot weaker one made for power like Fire Tornado, even though Fire Tornado wasn't as quick. I won't need Chi Sakurai Mai in this match, and I don't plan on using it again until facing Zeus again.

Finally, Kakuma calls out that the first half ends. Raimon came back to the bench, and Hibiki glanced at me. I nodded. Kidou went to talk to Endou about something, and Gouenji walked over to me. I handed him a towel and asked, "How 'bout I start it with a speed shoot? Or should we go all out with Phoenix Feather?" He took the towel, but stared at me with a small frown, "We aren't the only strikers anymore, you know? You shouldn't say things like that when there is another striker on our team around." I glanced at Pink Hair. "You mean him?" I asked, rolling my eyes, "And you call him a striker? I thought he was there to fill up space so it wasn't all spotlight on you." Gouenji wrinkled his eyebrows at my words, which I admit were not that nice if I was saying that in Pink Haired's face but I wasn't, and walked over to where Kidou was explaining something to Raimon. I followed him, since Hibiki was giving me a warning glare, but I was only half-heartedly listening to Kidou talking. "You'll be replacing Shouri as midfielder," Kidou told me before we went onto the field for the second half.

**Yes, Shizumi is a little *cough* very *cough* arrogant when it comes to soccer if you haven't noticed (remember her during the Teikoku versus Raimon practice match? How she said she was "truly one of them"?). But Gouenji will teach her that just because she's great at soccer doesn't mean that she'll always win. And no, it's not becoming Gouenji x OC. There was a good amount of Kidou x Shizumi in this chapter, though.**


	17. The Death Bringer's Duty is to Win

**Oh yeah right, you know how in the previous chapter it said that Shizumi had short hair again, right? That was because she cut it since she was coming back to the soccer world.**

"Now, the second half begins!" announced Kakuma. Senbayama started the kickoff. "Now all we need is a score! Tie the score!" Endou shouted from his spot. A grin curled up on my lips. A point, that was what I was here for. No, more than one. Enough so that Raimon could come back to victory. That was the soul reason for the Death Bringer to be even placed on the field.

The members of Senbayama moved the ball toward Endou. "Eh?" a brown haired boy on our team screeched as he saw me run back towards them. Then he became even more shocked when he saw Gouenji run toward the other side, as if already waiting for the pass so that he could attack. I counted the footsteps, one, two, three, now! I dashed across in front of a boy who was supposed to intercept the pass, and stole the ball away. That was my play style, quick dips of speed that let me win. I dribbled the ball up, and was about to pass it to Gouenji, who was already in place for Phoenix Feather, when from behind, Kidou shouted, "Pass it to Someoka!" I hesitated for a moment, my foot still poised. Taking advantage of my pause, three kids surrounded me and started walking around me in a circle. Oh no, this was their hissatsu Kagome Kagome, and once trapped, you can't escape. Think, Shizumi, think.

Wait, I got it. There's one way to get pass this, but it was risky and all about the right timing. "Pass the ball, Shizumi!" Kidou directed. _Now. _Thethree kids jumped up and came down at me just as I shot the ball up toward the sky using Kuroi Hane Taifuu. The wind that surrounded my hissatsu blew them away, thus breaking the hissatsu. But all that was unseen, as the dust that had came up from the ground when I used Kuroi Hane Taifuu had surrounded us was too thick to see past.

_Kidou's POV_

"Shizumi!" I shouted instinctively in a panic. The dust finally cleared away, and I saw the black haired girl splayed out on the ground propped up by her elbows. Other than the dirt that stained her jersey and the few scapes from falling, she looked fine. The three kids who had tried to ambush her were down on the ground too, also with a few scrapes and messed up hair, as if windblown. It looked like she managed to not let them steal the ball, but speaking of which, where was the soccer ball? It was nowhere in sight, and I had been too alarmed when I thought Shizumi was going to get hurt to pay attention to where the ball was.

All of a sudden, the black and white ball dropped with a thunk next to Shizumi, who was now crawling up. Before I knew it, I ran over to her. "Ne, are you alright?" I asked, reaching out a hand to help her up. And then I caught myself. Why do I care about her so much? Why did my heart hurt to see her in danger?

_Back to Shizumi's POV_

I was a little shaken by the whole mini explosion and falling to the ground that the world felt in a blur. Maybe it was only for a few seconds, but the world was moving in slow motion to me. And I was in my own little world, unconscious of everything around me. In that short amount of time, I forgot that I was back playing at the Football Frontier, forgot that I was defying the gods yet again, and even forgot who I was. I was stepping on that line of hallucination, not quite passing like all who have experienced Chi Sakura Mai had, but not entirely inside the side of reality either.

A voice that sounded tender and concerned called out to me. "Ne, are you alright?" it asked. Who was it? Why did it sound so familiar? His words were pulling me back to the side of reality, and I finally snapped out of that little world. A pair of pomegranate eyes that belonged to the one who called out for me stared into mine. I realized that it was Kidou. He was reaching out a hand to help me. I was shocked at his behavior, for usually all he did was laugh when I fell, either that or he'd be the one responsible for pushing me into the mud in the first place just for his own entertainment.

I had a moment of doubt, then finally took his hand. Well, if this was just a trap, it's not like anything worse could happen to me. If he suddenly let go, all that would happen is that I would fall back on to my butt. Yet surprisingly, he pulled me up completely and placed a hand on my shoulder. Not the usual, smug, you-better-do-it-or-you-know-what-happens squeeze, but a gentle, concerned touch. I felt as if I was floating.

But then my consciousness snapped back, and I took a step away from Kidou. He was standing way too close to my comfort zone, and I became instantly suspiscious, even scared, by his change in nature.

My eyes scoured the field, and I saw a boy on my team with a knit beanie who was open. I did a quick pass to him, and the game zoomed back. Kidou looked surprised at how I reacted, and I couldn't blame him. I just didn't like boys touching me, even the friendly hugs that Gouenji sometimes gave me back when he thought I was a boy.

The boy I passed the ball to passed it to the pink haired striker who I had insulted earlier. He then feinted shooting, and kicked it into the air. A boy from our defense who I hadn't notice coming up jumped up, and Gouenji jumped up a second after and used the first boy's chest as a trampoline. Then doing a spit upside down, he shot for the goal. Unfortunately, it was stopped by Infinite Wall and the struggle for a point continued.

Very soon, Kidou had possession over the ball again. He shouted a name and Gouenji's, then kicked it straight at where the two boys were preparing to use their hissatsu. Now I was more than mildly offended. Just how many hissatsus had Gouenji created without me? It was almost as if...he had forgotten about me and all our time training together and playing side by side.

I had to admit, their joint hissatsu Honoo No Kazamidori looked strong, though it was still not enough to break Infinite Wall. But seeing Infinite Wall's power compared to a powerful shoot, I could estimate about how strong Infinite Wall was. After that, Raimon tried again with Inazuma One, having Endou run up (which was the first time I had seen a goalie come into the field and shoot) but still, it was unsuccessful.

From the bench, I heard the boy with puffy orange hair whisper those words that made my body freeze up and everything around me blocked out. "Will we lose at this rate?" Those words echoed again and again in my head. I had to win. Everyone depended on the Death Bringer for victory, and he was responsible for carrying them all on his shoulders without complaint or even worse, failure or mistake. I had to win, I swore in the name of Death Bringer.

The aura of the game suddenly felt different, and I looked around. All the members of Raimon looked depressed. "Pass the ball to me!" I shouted to everyone on my team. They didn't even bat an eyelash at my words. "Oi, I said pass it here!" I shouted again, this time pissed. How did they expect to win if they couldn't even just punt it over? Ugh, whatever, I'm a libero, I'll go get it myself. I can win with just Gouenji. Good thing this team was only temporary, or else I would have been driven insane soon. Back at Kidokawa Seishuu, everyone had confidence once I stepped onto the field. And they would do anything to support me, and I brought them victory. That was how we played our soccer.

I stole the ball from a boy of Senbayama and shot at the net with my signature hissatsu. It's speed was legendary, but at the last second, Senbayama's goalie used Makiwari Chop and stopped it. Crap, I forgot he still had this move for faster shots that could beat the time it took for Infinite Wall to form. And even worse, now that he knew Kuroi Hane Taifuu's speed and power by experience, he could easily block it again and again. But there was no better way, I had to keep trying. I stole the ball again and shot. He blocked it with Makiwari Chop. I tried again, and just like before, he protected the goal. Continuous attacks didn't work either, and it only tired me out since I had to run around to steal the ball first which was pretty easy but wasted a lot of energy thanks to my good for nothing teammates.

By now, I must have tried at least ten times, and my toes were sore. That was why I needed to wear these specially designed cleats. Kuroi Hane Taifuu put a lot of pressure onto the toes especially the big toe, and normal cleats would have been destroyed and would have injured my toes by now.

I was bent over panting intensely too, and I could feel the sweat dripping down my neck. But I had to win. I had to get a point. The Death Bringer couldn't lose again. I can't. I can't. I just can't. I have to win.

From behind, Endou, who was still on the field, shouted, "Don't push yourself!" His words made me realize, yes, I was actually close to breaking point. I could probably endure two more Kuroi Hane Taifuus and one Phoenix Feather before I had to stop or my toe would be damaged. But then my eyes glanced over the boy with puffy orange hair, and I was reminded that winning was the only thing that mattered. That was the Death Bringer's duty.


	18. Phoenix Rebirth

**This chapter may sound very Gouenji x Shizumi-ish, but I assure you it is still Teikoku Four x OC. **

With adrenaline pumping through my veins, I stood up straight from by bent over position. "Stop it, Inoue. Stop it before you destroy your body," a voice cut in. I paused and turned to where it was coming from, and saw that it was Gouenji who had said those words. When all eyes turned to him, even the boy on the bench who thought we were going to lose, Gouenji continued, "Sacrificing yourself isn't the right way to win. I've seen you take take everyone's hopes on your shoulders at Kidokawa without complaint to know that you will do anything as long as you bring the team to victory. But Raimon doesn't play soccer like that. I won't let you do things like that anymore." Then he turned to the rest of Raimon. "And you guys, just look at how much Inoue is willing to use himself, I mean herself, to win for you guys. And all you're doing is moping."

I had heard this exact same speech before I became the Death Bringer, before everyone took me and victory for granted, on the first match Kidokawa Seishuu almost lost. I still remember it so clearly like yesterday. _I was bleeding and wobbling, barely able to stand up, yet I my eyes were still focused on the soccer ball. All my other teammates had already given up long time ago, and all that remained was me. I had to, and I will, get a goal in. _

"That's right," Endou was the next to speak up, "Why're you all looking so depressed? Don't tell me you've given up. The match isn't over!" "But we can't break through Infinite Wall..." Raimon sighed. I heard Domon say quietly, "We do need a hissatsu technique after all..."

"We still have Phoenix Feather," I announced. Everybody turned their gaze onto me. I detected a spark of hope in their souls. My eyes which were full of fire met Gouenji's, but he gave me a look as if he was disapointed in my choice. "Come on, we have to at least try it," I told him, closing the discussion. "Fine," he replied, "But I'm telling you, you're going to wreck yourself." My eyes drifted over to the bench where the orange haired boy sat, and my decision was made. "I'll be fine."

Gouenji started running foward, shocking the crowd, and I went to steal the ball again. Senbayama's skill was low, thus easy to steal from, but I was already worn out. So when I finally got the ball, I stumbled a bit and a boy from Senbayama took the chance to take it back. Nooooo, my hard fought ball... I was already tired, and now the thought of having to run after him only made the job seem harder. My legs felt heavier, and the world started spinning.

As my vision blurred from exhaustion, I saw a flash of platinum blonde zoom by me. I snapped back to focus and jerked my head backward, and I saw that it was Gouenji who had ran all the way from his spot back to the midfield to steal the ball. "Inoue!" he shouted as he kicked the ball into my direction, "You aren't alone in soccer! You don't have to think that you have to take on the other team all by yourself!"

"But I do have to! Everyone relied on me for victory, and I don't want to make their dreams collapse!" I screamed back. Gouenji was telling me those words I had been afraid of hearing for such a long time. I knew what he was going to say next, but I was scared to hear it.

"Winning isn't only your responsiblity! It's the whole team's! Same as losing. It isn't your fault if we lose, it's all of ours!"

"But they poured all their hopes into me! It's my job to win for them! I have to, or else I'll be letting everyone down!" I shrieked hysterically. I felt tears forming in my eyes. I was so afraid of being told that failure was fine, and that mistakes could be forgiven. That I wouldn't be blamed if we lost, and that winning wasn't something I had to carry by myself. Yet, I also felt a surge of relief in the back of my mind.

The ball that Gouenji passed to me made contact with my foot, and for a moment it was as if I was enveloped in warmth. Even though it was only for a second, I felt as if I could feel all those emotions that Gouenji was trying to tell me, and that I wasn't alone on the field. It was the same feeling I got everytime I intercepted one of Gouenji's passes, but this time, the emotions were stronger. Had he been trying to tell me that I wasn't alone every time? Or could it possibly be that...I was never alone from the beginning when we played side by side?

With a new rush of energy, I pushed foward, dipping right and left at a speed that even astonished myself. I didn't know that I had this type of strength. I slowed down to bided time by dodging and feinting until Gouenji was long past me. "Gouenji!" I shouted, and kicked the ball toward the platinum haired boy running ahead.

"Could this be? The phantom move that disappeared along with the two strikers of Kidokawa Seishuu last year, Phoenix Feather?" Kakuma exclaimed, deeply focused on the match. The crowd was watching intensely.

At the last second, Gouenji jumped up, gathering fire around him as he swirled. But instead of facing foward, he did half less a spin to face backward and used Fire Tornado toward Raimon's side. "What's going on! Gouenji-sempai!" went all around Raimon's members. Only Kidou grinned knowingly. The ball of fire shot toward me. It was all too familiar to me, burned in my head like second nature that the world seemed to slow down and my body moved on it's own. I was in the zone again just like every time we used Phoenix Feather. I stepped foward, and Kuroi Hane Taifuu clashed with Fire Tornado, sending the ball back in Gouenji's direction. It exploded off my foot in a burst of fire like a phoenix coming to life, and zoomed toward the goal with feathers lit on fire trailing behind.

Kakuma, Senbayama's players, all of Raimon, everyone in the audience, and even Kidou who had already seen it in real life before were captured by the stunning power that radiated off of it. The phoenix was born once again.

Senbayama used Infinite Wall, but Phoenix Feather just blew the two defenders away. Remember? Kuroi Hane Taifuu blows away everyone in it's path or around it other than the goalie. Without the two defenders for support, Infinite Wall easily crumbled to the power of Phoenix Feather.

There was a moment of pause for everyone to register everything in their brain. Finally, Kakuma shouted, "Goal!"

Gouenji ran back to me and held his hand up. I high fived him, and he asked with a smile, "See? You don't have to do it all alone." "Yeah..." I replied, my voice trailing off as I started wobbling and feeling faint. I tried to hide it, but he noticed it and furrowed his brows anxiously. "You're in no state to play. Kantoku! Change players!" he shouted panickedly. Everything they said after that was blocked out of my head as Gouenji made me lean on him for support. The things around me became blurry, but one thing registered clearly. From my peripheral vision, I saw Kidou running toward us with a frantic expression, shouting something that I couldn't make out. My eyelids started drooping. I did it, I scored a goal...

That was the last thing I remembered before my body went limp and I closed my eyes. I feel so sleepy...


	19. Things More Important Than Winning

**Ahahaha... I'm sorry I made Shizumi sound similar to Fubuki in the last chapter. And also, in case anyone gets confused, Gouenji calls Shizumi "Inoue" because he still sees her as Inoue and she doesn't bother to correct him usually while everyone else calls her Sakurai except for the Teikoku boys who call her Shizumi or the occasion Shizu-chan. **

I don't know how much time had passed before I finally pulled back to consciousness. My eyelids fluttered open, and I saw two figures looming over me. It took a second for my vision to focus to recognize who they were, and another to have the past memories rush back.

_ Gouenji ran back to me and held his hand up. I high fived him, and he asked with a smile, "See? You don't have to do it all alone." "Yeah..." I replied, my voice trailing off as I started wobbling and feeling faint. I tried to hide it, but he noticed it and furrowed his brows anxiously. "You're in no state to play. Kantoku! Change players!" he shouted panickedly. Everything they said after that was blocked out of my head as Gouenji made me lean on him for support. The things around me became blurry, but one thing registered clearly. From my peripheral vision, I saw Kidou running toward us with a frantic expression, shouting something that I couldn't make out. My eyelids started drooping. I did it, I scored a goal..._

I crawled up into a sitting position, but instantly felt a whirl of dizzyness. "Don't push yourself!" Gouenji told me as he helped me up slowly. Once the wave passed, I looked around. I was on a couch in a big fancy room I didn't recognize. Kneeling next to the couch I was lying on was Gouenji and Endou. I turned to Gouenji and asked, "Where am I?" "Kidou's personal sitting room," Gouenji responded. Then under his breath, he whispered, "Rich ass kids..." A smile crept up my face. But then I remembered, and my expression changed. He noticed my troubled frown and asked, trying to lighten the mood, "What's the matter? Kidou can always go to daddy and have the room remodeled if if doesn't suit your taste."

I sighed and hung my head, "I'm sorry, I couldn't win for Raimon. Endou put a hand on my shoulder, making me tense up, then quickly relaxed after hearing what he had to say. "It's alright. Raimon won in the end." "Yeah...but I was placed on the team only to win for them. I let them down..." My voice cracked and a tear fell onto my clenched fists.

I felt another hand on my shoulder. I looked up and saw that it was Gouenji's. "No, it was because of you that Raimon won. They were all empty of hope until they saw you pretty much kill yourself just to get a point for them. You motivated them." I turned doubtfully to Endou. "Yeah, Gouenji's right! If it wasn't for you, then Raimon would have gave up!"

I was silent after hearing their words. "You once said the phoenix represented strength and rebirth. Just think of soccer from a different angle," Gouenji continued, "Instead of bringing death to the other team, you brought life to your own team. That is a lot more important than any win." Looking into Endou's shining eyes and Gouenji's soulful ones and reassuring smile told me that they meant it. Maybe Gouenji was right, I had been seeing soccer the wrong way the whole time. All along, I thought I was alone and that I couldn't rely on anyone else or they would see me as a failure, when it was them who wanted me to rely on them so that they would feel like I accepted them as teammates instead of dead weight dragging me down.

The door creaked open, and everyone turned around and froze. There, standing at the doorway staring at us was Kidou holding a tray balancing four english teacups an expensive looking porcelain teapot. "Oh hey, Shizumi-chan. I didn't know you were awake," he finally said awkwardly his voice cracking in the middle.

Gouenji and Endou exchanged a glance, and they both stood up without a word. Then Gouenji led a confused Endou toward the exit. "Ne, where're you going?" I asked after them. "Err, we'll see you at practice tomorrow. Raimon's field, don't be late," the platinum striker said before closing the door behind Kidou on his way out. "Hey! You didn't even say what time! How do you expect me to be on time?!" I shouted after them, making Kidou flinch. "Right after school!" Endou's voice came from far away outside even though they were still in the Kidou resident, then the naive boy was shushed by Gouenji. Why did Gouenji started acting so weird once he saw Kidou?

"So um, hey," Kidou said, trying to break the tension, "I brought you tea." He came over and sat down on the couch next to mine and placed the tray on the table. Then he poured tea from the teapot into one of the empty cups and handed it to me. I accepted it graciously, and there was another silence.

"Baka..." I heard Kidou say under his breath. The teacup I had been holding paused in front of my lips. "I can hear you, Kidou-san," I replied warningly while giving him a glare, then brought the cup closer and tipped it slightly. The instant the warm liquid touched my taste buds, I recognized it as english milk tea, my favorite. I used to drink it at my grandparents' house in Europe. Somehow Kidou got the temperature and amount of sweetness perfect. I was surprised. Maybe all rich people had a magic touch with tea?

"Better?" he asked me with a smirk as if laughing at me after seeing me drink the whole think in one gulp. "Hai. Arigatou, Kidou-san," I replied as I set the empty cup carefully back on the tray. But right after I let go of the cup, Kidou grabbed me forcefully by the shoulders and swiveled me so that I faced him. Caught by surprise, all I could muster was, "Ah- Kidou-san!"

"What were you thinking out there on the field?!" he shouted at me angrily, "You could have hurt yourself!"

His sudden reaction and loud volume scared me. He loosened his grip after seeing me flinch and the tears that had sprang to my eyes. "Gomen," Kidou apologized softly, his tone had changed from angry to regretful. I had never heard Kidou ever say things with this tone, not to me at least. He pulled me closer, gently this time, and stroke my hair, all while whispering, "I'm sorry, Shizumi, I really am..." Not knowing what to do, I let him hug me and whispering soothing words, although I'm not sure who he wanted to reassure, me or him. It seemed as if he was talking to himself, yet he kept saying my name over and over again.

Now I'm sure that there's a lot more behind that shell I always thought was his real personality. Maybe someday, I won't regret crashing into him in the halls that first day which led me to all this. And maybe...just maybe...I might grow to like him. As in more than a friend.

**Just in case: THIS STORY IS NOT OVER! I reread the last few sentences and thought it kind of sounded like I was ending it, but I assure you I am far from it. And I'm sorry this chapter was a little short. It was because I needed to get back into the groove after last Saturday, and it was a teensy bit difficult. I might edit the ending later, but I'll probably be too lazy to.**


	20. Bonds Are Hard To Build

_Next Day After School_

"Ne, Inoue! You're late!" Gouenji shouted teasingly as I finally ran up to the practice field, fifteen minutes after school had ended. "Well, sor-_ry_! It was because _somebody_ *cough* you *cough* didn't tell me that the field was in the front of the school! I spent ten minutes searching for a soccer field in the back, going to all the other sport clubs asking where it was. But nooooo they would only laugh at me, thinking that I am one of your fangirls. Then finally this blonde guy from the track club told me it was at the front of the school, and now here I am. And do you know how much more time it takes to change out of the girls uniform than the boys'? You have to make sure that none of the cheap public school uniform fabric rips, and that it doesn't get wrinkly. And I ran into a little trouble in the girl's locker room when the girls from the baseball club gave me a hard time about the whole Inoue Shizuro thing, thinking that I only did that because I was a pervert. _Then _I had to spend two minutes straight explaining to them that no, I did not have fantasies of fucking you, which, in fact, is very very disturbing, and that I had never saw a boy changing before or has been in the same room as a boy changing other than Sakuma on my first day as Teikoku's manager but that's a completely different matter!."

When I was finally finished ranting, Gouenji and Kidou, who was standing next to Gouenji, were bent over clutching their stomaches and laughing like crazy. "Why didn't you let me enroll as Inoue Shizuro?" I demanded towards Gouenji as I marched over to the two boys. Between his laughing and gulps for air, Gouenji managed to reply, "You wanted to regain your lost reputation, remember?" "I have a feeling you only did that to get back at all the time I scored more goals than you," I fumed. Still laughing, Gouenji replied, "So what? I had more fans than you." "Your're just jealous you didn't have someone like Hinata," I retorted, a spring of truimph in my words. Suddenly, Kidou's expression grew serious. "Who's Hinata?" he asked crossly. Gouenji quickly grew silent and stared at me. "Uh...," I stalled, trying to find an excuse. Crap, I had accidently let a little of my past slip, and for some reason my gut told me Kidou was not going to be happy about this if I told him the truth. Luckily, Gouenji distracted Kidou by shouting, "C'mon! Practice is starting!" I shrugged at Kidou, than ran toward the field and gave Gouenji a thankful smile when no one was looking. Or so I thought. Little did I know about the studying gaze of two gray orbs observing me carefully.

Since I had missed out on the first fifteen minutes which Raimon had spent on stretching and warming up, I was too do a quick five minute stretch as Raimon jogged their daily laps around the field. After they were finished, Hibiki-kantoku gathered us up in a huddle. He explained a few things on getting used to the new spacing and timing, so today's practice was dedicated to learning how to work with the new players (me and Kidou), passing, and teamwork. Kidou's sister whose name I finally learned was Haruna came up to us holding a wooden crate with only a small hole on the top. We were instructed to reach in and pick a ball up, and people with the same colors were going to be partners for the first exercise.

I was one of the last people to go since I was in the back. I reached into the hole and pulled a ball out. It was a blue. My eyes instantly scoured over everyone, and with an internal groan I found out it wasn't Gouenji, or Endou, who I was at least okay with. It was the boy with the turquoise ponytail who used Honoo No Kazamidori with Gouenji. Heck, I'd even be fine with Kidou if it meant not having to partner up with members of Raimon, who I'm sure didn't like me at all because of my playing style and untrustworthy connection to Kageyama.

But the coach's decisions were law, so I had to bare with this for twenty minutes, then I could just go back to playing soccer the real way. We started off with this weird thing where we had to sit back to back and link our elbows together then try to get up. I instantly felt uncomfortable and aware that even though he would probably never show any love interest in me, I was still a girl and boys touching me always made me alarmed.

Let's just say that we did not agree even for the first five seconds together. I wanted to observe the other pairs to see how they succeeded and failed first, while the other boy argued that that wasn't actually teamwork and that we were supposed to figure it out on our own. Then I countered saying that everyone always observed the opponents move in a match, and he responded that this was about learning teamwork, not competition. So I asked him why we would need to practice this if we were never going to use any of the skill on the field. He just unlinked himself, shook his head, stood up, and walked over to kantoku to try to reason with him why I was on the team. Then Gouenji walked over to them and said something I couldn't hear but was probably in my defense, then Hibiki-kantoku sighed and gestured one of the other groups to switch partners with us.

The next boy was even worse. He was the pink haired striker who I insulted during our match against Senbayama, so obviously, he didn't like me, and I didn't like him much either, resulting in another argument about how I wasn't putting my weight in correctly. I retorted that he was probably twice as heavy as me in the first place so it wasn't my fault, and he got so angry that he tried to punch me. I ducked, then kicked him in the crotch, resulting to another boy crying to the coach. Hibiki-kantoku could only sigh in frustration at how badly I was getting along with Raimon. Finally, he told us that we would practice our individual hissatsu shoots against Endou to boost our offensive power, probably because he couldn't stand me anymore. I had no objections against this. Kuroi Hane Taifuu needed to be faster, even faster than my glory at Kidokawa Seishuu if I wanted to beat Poseidon.

Gouenji went first, impressive as always. But it was...shall we say...boring. His Fire Tornado never got stronger, nor weaker. It didn't evolve either, and a variation never grew from it. Next up was the pink haired guy. I assume his name is Someoka because Endou was shouting at him. When he used his move Dragon Crash, I could tell it was a teeny bit stronger every time he used it. See, me and Gouenji had reached our golden age already, and while he's maintaning it, I wanted to surpass it, to grow stronger. Like a phoenix.

After the soccer ball bounced off Endou's fist, it rolled over to a guy watching us play. I didn't notice him there, his presence was suspicious. Not dangerous suspicious, but secretive suspicious. Just by a glance, I could tell he was a guy who was a master at something and was hiding it.

The mysterious newcomer picked up the ball and smiled. Then he charged onto the field. Could it be that soccer was his talent? He used a move I had never seen before which he named Spinning Shoot. Endou blocked it with God Hand, but just barely. My prediction had been correct.

Aki and Domon came back from who knows where, and from what I could pick up was that the three were childhood friends or something like that with history together. They went to the bench to catch up, leaving us to practice in peace.

"Okay, Endou. I'll make it in this time!" Someoka growled. I turned to him. "Just a little helpful advice," I said quietly, "Imagine your foot is gathering energy, and release it all at once." "As if I need your help," he snorted, but I noticed that he still tried what I told him to do. And by everyone's surprise, it did go in this time. "Whoah!" Endou, Someoka, and pretty much everyone else on the team but Gouenji and me exclaimed. "Told'ya," I smirked. Without turning to give me eyecontact, he muttered in an embarrased tone, "Fine. You have my gratitude."

Endou then called out for the new boy to join us, so he and Domon ran up into play. The new boy had the ball first, and he dribbled it down toward our side. He easily got past two of our defenders, so I rushed from where I was standing beside Gouenji to where Kidou was guarding, already ready to provide defense backup. That was why I always got picked as midfielder. This boy may be the master at ball handling, but I was the master at ball stealing and shooting.

The boy had a tough battle with Kidou, and just at the last moment when I thought Kidou would win, the new boy got past him, as if it was all planned out. He came charging toward Endou. "All right! It's going to be a penalty kick showdown between me and him!" Endou cheered excitedly. "Sorry, Endou, but not yet," I could barely contain my own excitement. It was time to put my speed and stealing skills to the test with someone who was on my level. Faster than I've ever gone before, I dashed so that I was now standing between the new boy and Endou. "That speed..." I heard the turquoise haired boy whisper with fear.

"Come at me with all you got," I said to the boy. He slowed down and smiled. Was this some kind of fool-the-opponent trick? "Pretty girls like you shouldn't play on the field with the boys where you would get dirty," he told me sweetly. All the excitement melted away, and anger replaced it. He thought I was a girl, so I would be too weak to play soccer. That was why he slowed down, he didn't take me seriously. I will show him, I hate boys who underestimate girls, that was why I dressed up as a boy before...so I wouldn't be judged...

"Oh I'll show you what a 'pretty girl' can do. Just as well you show me what an 'asshole' like you can do," I fired back, adrenaline pulsing through my body and the blood pumping in my ears. Raimon gasped at what I just said, but Gouenji widened his eyes as he realized what I was about to do. I never tolerated being underestimated, and I had a lot of that during my Kidokawa Seishuu days when I was all skin and bones compared to all the muscular boys. Even when I earned the name Death Bringer, many teams still took me easy until they were destroyed by me on the field. It wasn't until Chi Sakura Mai did I really strike fear in everyone's hearts just by my name and appearance.

"Hey, Inoue, calm down," Gouenji shouted panickily at me, his attempt to stop me from going overboard. I ignored him. It was time to show him my true potential.

"Ah, I'm sorry if I accidently hurt you," the boy said innocently, unaware of my anger about to be released. Now those of you who have faced the Death Bringer or seen him (or her, your choice) play in real life will know that you never want him angry at you. Why? Because I could go faster when I was angered by being underestimated. It fueled me foward to go past my limitations.

The boy started out by dribbling it in an easy jog, probably thinking that he would be able to pass me with that. I stayed still with bent knees and narrowed eyes, waiting for the right time. Everyone watched intently, worried why I wasn't moving. Only Gouenji knew. Thump, thump, thump, now! I sprang forward, almost faster than the eyes can see. Caught by surprise, the boy stumbled, and I dashed by him. No one saw what happened. It wasn't until I got to the other side that they saw me with posession of the ball. The boy who I had stolen the ball from could only stare at me with mouth gaping in shock. Casually, I punted the ball to Someoka and strolled to the benches. "You've succeeded of played you're part as an asshole, so I'll play mine now too."

"Wait, let's try that again!" he shouted, which surprised me. I turned around with eyebrows raised, "Sure, I was hoping I could play against the 'real' asshole anyway." From the bench, I heard Haruna whisper to the green haired manager, "Did she just officially nickname Ichinose 'asshole'?" The latter only sweatdropped.

_One Hour Later..._

"Oh man, are they still at it? I want to play against Ichinose," Endou complained. "Now you know how torturous my practices were with Inoue. Everytime we were evenly matched in something, she would make me compete with her until she won," Gouenji replied. Kidou walked up to the platinum haired boy. He signaled for Gouenji to follow him, and Gouenji did just that when Endou wasn't looking. Kidou led them to where they couldn't be heard behind the trees.

**Teehee, this chapter contains a lot mystery~ (hehe, I'm getting in touch with my inner Riki Ryugasaki). Who's Hinata? Who was watching Shizumi? What are Kidou and Gouenji doing/scheming?And no, Kidou is not making out with Gouenji behind the trees. It also seems like Shizumi has developed some sense of friendship (not love, that's just gross) with Someoka and Ichinose. NOTE TO READERS: This is not becoming a Kidou x Shizumi fic. Sakuma and Genda WILL come back soon, and Fudou will appear too most likely. But Sakuma and Genda definitely. Thank you Lotus Sword for pointing this out.**


	21. Oh No, Bad News

Next day at practice went only a little better. There would have been a lot more arguments actually if Endou, Ichinose (who I finally learned his name), and Domon hadn't been hogging half of the field trying to use Tri-Pegasus. We were doing passing drills, and somehow it seems like me and Raimon just couldn't connect our passes properly even though Kidou was doing relatively well with them. I would always pass it too hard or too far, and they would always pass it off the axis or off by a few degrees.

Finally, after two hours or so, Hibiki-kantoku dismissed us, but most of Raimon stayed behind to support the three trying to revive Tri-Pegasus. So far, they were having no luck, and I didn't exactly want to waste my time just for such a small possibility of success. Might as well drop by an okonomiyaki store in Inazuma Town to buy takeout for dinner before it got crowded and catch the bart to go home to my apartment.

_Time Skip_

I was in my beroom lying on the carpet doing homework. Raimon was a public school, so compared to Teikoku, it was easy as pie. I'm glad the Football Frontier doesn't play on TV in Europe, or else mama and papa would know that I had just made a mess of everything we had worked so hard to keep a secret. But I'm sure that they are dying to see it, to make sure I was still safe and undercover, and soon they will find out anyway since Nikaidou-kantoku probably phoned them. If he didn't, then I owe him a thousand thanks. All of a sudden, my phone rang. Glad for a distraction, I scampered up and grabbed it off the table, then flipped it open. The screen said that the call was from Kidou. Why would he be calling me at this time?

"Yes? Kidou-san?" I asked after jabbing the talk button. There no reply from the other end. "Hello? You there, Kidou? What do you want?" I asked in an annoyed tone. He had better not be prank calling me and wasting my minutes, not that I couldn't pay for it. I did go to Teikoku Gakuen, an expensive private school, after all. Mama and papa earned a nice amount as a violinist and reality estate agent.

Finally, a girl's voice responded. "This isn't Kidou. I'm his sister. I'm using his phone to call you right now." "Mnhn. I can tell after the second sentence, so stop wasting my time and tell me what you want," I retorted. I heard an angry huff on the other end. "Do you want to hear what I'm going to say or not?" she snapped. "Maybe. It depends on what it is," I said distractedly, already starting to work on the next question for my math homework. "It's info concerning who your opponent is for the next match," was the reply, "But since you're so overconfident, it seems like it doesn't really matter for you. So goodnight."

"Wait!" I shouted before she ended the call. I waited for a few seconds to hear the ending click, but none came, meaning that she was still listening. "Who is it?," I asked her in a nicer, softer tone this time. There was a long pause. I wondered if I had just missed hearing the ending click, and that she wasn't actually there on the other end anymore. Finally after what seemed like an eternity, those two words that I heard made me freeze and drop my pencil. "Kidokawa Seishuu."


	22. Mukata Troubles

_Next Day _

So far, my practices with Raimon was still making no progress. The only people I could actually play with on the field so far was Gouenji, Kidou, Someoka, Ichinose, and possibly Domon, and I wasn't exactly on the best terms with the managers either, especially Aki, the girl who I had first talked to during the Teikoku versus Raimon practice match. The others, especially the teal haired boy from the first practice and another boy named Handa, were completely against me being on the team. Whatever. I was already planning on ditching them after I beat Zeus. I might go join a team in Europe where mama, papa, and my grandparents were living, or I might escape to Hokkaido or someplace far where people wouldn't know much about me. But whatever I decide on doing, I can't go back to Kidokawa Seishuu...ah, the mere name of it gave me a pang of sadness and reminded me that I had to face them soon. But instead of being on a team together, I was going to have to play against them...

"Sakurai, Gouenji! You guys look depressed! Want to come to the park and plan with me and Kidou?" Endou's voice cut through my deep thinking. I looked at Gouenji, and he gave me the same look of if-you-go-I'll-go. I turned back to Endou and shrugged. "Sure, why not? I don't have anything else planned after school anyway."

_Time Skip to After Practice_

I sat in the middle of Gouenji and Kidou on the bench. Gouenji was hunched over deep in worry, obviously about the whole facing Kidokawa thing. Kidou had insisted on putting an arm around my waist as he read the strategies he planned for our next match out loud. While I wanted to do what Gouenji was doing and let all the frustration show, I was sure I looked like a girl now in my female uniform and being hugged by Kidou, so I really shouldn't, or it would look like I had just been dumped and Kidou was trying to cheer me up. Heck, I already look like his girlfriend sitting this close to him, I don't want to give him more glory.

"Gouenji, watch out for the timing when the formation changes," Kidou warned the platinum haired striker. All he got in reply was a brooding, "Yeah..." All of us could tell that Gouenji wasn't really listening. "We'll take a break from this strategy meeting!" Endou exclaimed, trying to lighten the mood, "Come with me!" Then he ran off. Gouenji snapped up, and me and Kidou jerked our head toward the figure running away. "Hey! Where are you going?" Kidou shouted after Endou. The three of us sprang up and started chasing him.

At last when we finally caught up to him, we stood in front of an old fashioned candy shop. "A sweets store?" Kidou asked, shaking his head. "Yeah," deadpanned Endou, "You've never been here before?" But Endou was right, the run did make me forget about my worries, even if it was only for five minutes. "Yeah," me, Gouenji, and Kidou replied like idiots.

Endou went in and instantly started chatting with the old lady in charge and the elementary kids in there buying candy. He looked so familiar with this place and these people, I was even starting to wish they had stores like this near Teikoku. "So they still have places like this in Inazuma Town," Kidou stated as he admired the sentimental feeling of the candy store. "Yeah, it's my first time here too," Gouenji said.

We decided to wait for Endou outside on the bench, since none of us (or me at least) hadn't brung any pocket money other than my dinner fee and bart fare since I lived in another city. I wondered briefly whether Kidou was actually hiding a fat wallet somewhere since he was rich, then gave up on trying to figure out where since it's not like he was going to share anyway.

"A sweets store, eh?" Kidou said suddenly, "Just like a child." Me and Gouenji turned our attention to him. I had gotten used to his hands over me after so many weeks, so I just ignored the arm that had found it's way around my waist again and hoped that no one I knew passed by. I did not need rumors of the crossdressing Death Bringer having a possible relationship with the fallen genius strategist being tossed around Japan.

Suddenly, arguing voices from inside the sweet shop distracted us. "Move," a voice said. It sounded familiar, but I couldn't pinpoint from where. "You can't cut lines!" one of the kids Endou was talking with earlier shouted at the first. Then came Endou's voice, trying to reason with the first boy who's voice kept nagging at the back of my mind, "You guys! Stay in line!"

"Bad kids! Bad kids!" the elementary kids chanted as the three of us ran to see what was happening. When I finally saw who the first voice belonged to, a shock went through my body. Gouenji had the same reaction when he came to the door two seconds later. It was our former teammates, the Mukata triplets. Well, not exactly teammates, more like my bench-mates.

They noticed us also. "Gouenji!," the boy in the middle, Musara, sneered, "Long time no see, you loner who ran away from the finals." Then Tomo, Musara's brother, added from the side, "At least you dare show your face to us after all this time, unlike that Inoue Shizuro who disappeared completely. So we'll give you credit...not!" Then the three bursted into haughty laughter.

I couldn't help but started laughing also. Kidou jumped back and Gouenji looked shocked. The Mukata triplets stopped laughing abrupty and turned toward me along with Endou, the old lady, and the other kids. "What's so funny?" Tsutomu, the last brother, demanded. I stopped laughing also, but giggles escaped through my mouth. "Don't you recognize me?" I asked them. They squinted as they tried to figure out why I looked so familiar. Finally after five seconds, Musara exclaimed,"You're Inoue!". The other two brothers' minds finally clicked, and their jaws dropped. "That's right," I replied, then because I couldn't help it, I added, "Took you long enough. Haven't you been reading the news or watching the TV?"

Musara crossed his arms and taunted, "I have, but all of them are about the Mukata Triplets, who will win the Football Frontier, like totally." I pretended to be bored, and said, "Oh, then you guys must be desperate. All I saw was me making the front cover of about three sport magazines, two newspapers, five gossip papers, and a small paragraph on you guys in one magazine." Tomo narrowed his eyes. "Don't be so sure of yourself, Inoue. You and Gouenji may have been the victory cards last year, but now it's us."

"Who are those guys?" Endou asked Kidou. The genius strategist replied, "They're the ones who played in place of Gouenji and Shizumi this year in the finals, the three top of Kidokawa Seishuu." "As expected of Kidou Yuuto, looks like you've got all the information on your potential opponents," Musara commented. Kidou nonchalantly shrugged and replied, "I only remembered it because it's strange to see three strikers on the field at once." I couldn't help but exchange a victory smirk with him. He grinned back.

"How dare you say that? We proved that we can beat Gouenji and Inoue, we have three strikers that are all better than them!" Tsutomi fired. Endou started walking to the exit, then paused right before he went out and signaled for us to take the conversation outside. Gouenji followed wordlessly, but I stayed behind to give the Mukata Triplets one more glare before Kidou looped his arm around me again and dragged me outside. The Mukata Triplets followed and snickered at the sight of me, the phantom striker who struck fear in everyone's hearts being pulled like a girl. I gave them another glare, but they just laughed louder.

Finally, when we were all outside, Endou demanded, "What's this about? What's with you guys?" Tomo replied in that haughty tone, "We'll take down Gouenji Shuuya and Inoue Shizuro for Kidokawa Seishuu, no, to satsify the triplet's grudge!" "From the first day you shamed me at tryouts, we hated you, no, both of you!" Musara declared, "So we'll take you down!" Then all together, they chorused, "That's something Gouenji and Inoue knows, so ask them!"

"Eh? Gouenji and Inoue knows?" Endou asked, then turned to us. Gouenji was looking at the ground, and I turned my face away from Kidou. "Yeah," Tsutomu continued, "You could say that last year in the Football Frontier, Kidokawa Seishuu got to the finals thanks to them." "It's true that Gouenji had a lot of good skill and that Inoue was our joker, but because of that, us Mukata Triplets wasn't even brought out to play!" Tomo said in a dramatically sad tone, as if he was about to pull out a hankerchief and dab at his eyes. Musara was the next to speak. "It's sad, but reality, so we put our dreams in Gouenji, and in Inoue too if Gouenji wasn't enough. But...but...you two never showed up at the finals!"

The accusation drilled deep into my heart. It was my worst nightmare coming true, my teammates saying that I had let their dreams of victory fall. Endou shouted something back to defend us I think, but I wasn't completely sure. Everything was blocked out, and I felt my world crumbling. My knees felt weak, and I collapsed. If it wasn't for Kidou catching me, I would have been on the ground. All I could do right now was hang onto his arm tightly and clench the fabric of the sleeve. I couldn't think straight, I couldn't stand up, I'm not sure I could even keep living.

Musara continued like he was reading from the script that would end my world. Every word rang loud and clear in my head. "You two betrayed our dreams! We thought you were heroes, but you ran away like cowards!" I felt myself slipping, and I couldn't do anything about it other than grip onto Kidou tighter. I had thought this desire to not let anyone's dreams collapse because of me was gone after Gouenji had told me I wasn't to blame, but I guess I was wrong.

Kidou pulled me up and forced me to stand. "Stop. Shizumi didn't quit on her own free will. It was Kageyama's fault! He wanted to make sure Teikoku could win against Kidokawa Seishuu, so he decided to fake a voting to kick Shizumi out," Kidou shouted at the Musara Triplets.

Endou was shocked at Kidou's outburst, then quickly caught on. "That's right! That day, Gouenji was-" He was cut off by the platinum haired striker. "Stop it, it's over already, The truth won't change!" Gouenji shouted. I could tell he was taking these accusations pretty badly too.

Musara pulled out a soccer ball from his bag. "Well, since we're here, let's do some scouting," he said wickedly. Gouenji turned around and started walking away, "Sorry, I don't feel up to it." He was near breaking point, so he probably wanted to get away as quick as possible before he started to crack. I had already broke, and it was embarrassing to do it in front of the Mukata Triplets especially. Somehow, it wasn't as embarrassing in front of Kidou. It was probably because he had cracked in front of me before. "Oh? Are you going to run away again?" Tomu asked, hitting bullseye where it hurted the most. Gouenji stopped. Then Tomu turned to me. "How 'bout you?"

Kidou took one look at my trembling figure, and told Endou, "I'm taking her home. She'll be better tommorow." The two of us started walking away. From behind, I heard Musara call out on purposely loud, "Ah, it was a shame this is the same Inoue that Hinata-chan saw." He emphasized the name Hinata, but really put the hard note on 'chan'. I stiffened. Then slowly, I turned my head slightly in my signature single eye glare. "Did you just call Hinata 'Hinata-chan?'" I asked, scaring even myself how murdurous my voice sounded. Kidou took a step back, releasing his hold on me, but I no longer needed his support. This anger made my blood boil.

"Yeah, didn't you know? Hinata's my girlfriend now," Musara continued taunting, this time emphasizing the word 'girlfriend'. I know I was probably a human flame now. "Let's decide this with soccer," I said in the scarily calm, but angry voice which meant the Death Bringer meant buisness. And everyone, especially Musara, should know that you never want to be on the opposite team when the Death Bringer was angry.


	23. Let's Decide This The Soccer Way

**Sooo, this isn't really about the story or anything but I got a, shall we say, interesting comment on my last chapter (on Fanfiction not Wattpad). Obviously, the person writing it didn't log in, because let's just say that it would be reported immediately. Here it is:**

_**The story sucks. End of I don't need your lame excuse saying, "Don't like? Don't read." As a reader, I have the right to throw to you what I think about the whole story.**_

**Here's my reply to whoever wrote this, because I'm sure you're reading this. I'm sorry, but as you can see from the other NICER commenters (thank you, people! I luv you guys!) , that no, I don't think everyone will say this story sucks (some will of course, rude people like you, but not all). And as for the excuse thing, how 'bout your excuse to say you can "throw" anything to me, huh? Sure you can, but um, WHY did you comment on the LATEST chapter if you thought this story sucked? I mean, wouldn't you have just read the first chapter and stop, not read all the way to the latest one? And you also really need to come up with something else than the "lame excuse" of you being a reader who has the right to flame me. **

**Okay, imma gonna stop with that and go back to the story now. Sorry for the mini rant, people.**

Ten minutes later, we met in our jerseys at the public soccer field near the bridge. It was decided to be a three against two, the Mukata Triplets against me and Endou. Whoever gets the first goal wins, and they get to start the kickoff.

Tomo punted it to Tsutomu, who then passed it to Musara who had ran behind me and had nothing blocking his way other than Endou. It was true that they weren't as good as me and Gouenji, but their teamwork was flawless, even better than Teikoku's. "Oh no!" I cursed under my breath, "Damnit! They got pass me!" Endou noticed my anxiety. "Don't worry! I'll stop it!" he shouted full of fire. "No, you don't know..." I couldn't finish my sentence, because Musara had already shot with a hissatsu I had never seen before. It looked like Fire Tornado, but he was spinning the other way. Endou, quick as ever to react, used Bakuretsu Punch to deflect it. But just as he sent the ball flying, two more soccer balls zoomed into the net.

"What are you doing?" Endou shouted angrily. "We just decided to get a goal, like yeah," Musara said in his annoying, overconfident voice. "Using three balls at once isn't soccer!" I barked at them. "Then can you stop one?" Musara sneered, directed at me. I unintentionally gulped nervously. "Let's do it," he commanded his brothers. Their sunglasses gleamed dangerously, and I had a feeling I was in store for something bad.

"Stop it!" a voice shouted, "Don't use violence!" All of us turned toward where the voice came from. It was the turquoise haired defender of Raimon running over frantically. "Huh?" me and Endou asked, "Violence?" "Isn't it?" the ponytail boy continued, "I heard something about a duel..." It took me a moment to get what he was saying. "No! A battle with soccer!" I corrected him, "Not violence!"

The Raimon members who had followed the teal haired boy all looked confused. Then they turned toward the boy with puffy orange hair who had been losing hope in our match against Senbayama. "Geez, you made us worry for nothing!" Aki whined. I just shook my head. Raimon can be such dunces at times. How did I ever think I could win with with them on the same team?

"Well then, since we have a larger gallery now, let's continue, shall we?" Musara asked, steering us back to why we were here. Then all together, they declared, "We'll show you the Mukata Triplets' strongest hissatsu technique!" Strongest technique? Since when did the Mukata Triplets have a joint shoot?

They passed the ball up, then jumped onto each other for boost, and finally sent the soccer ball toward the goal in a stream of golden light. What was this power? I had never seen something like this before. The only thing that came close was Phoenix Feather and Death Zone, but even barely for them. Before I knew it, I ran just in time in between the ball and Endou. Then I used my hissatsu technique Kuroi Hane Taifuu, even though I already knew that the odds of me deflecting it was slim. Endou gasped at my sudden attempt at such a dangerous move.

But I could do it, I almost did it. Just a little more until I can send it back toward the other goal, just a little more... suddenly I heard a crack. The ball shot off course, and i fell to the ground

"How's that?" Musara jeered. Gouenji, Kidou , Endou, and everybody else gathered around ran up to me. "I should have known..." Gouenji breathed, "You usually rest for a full two days without soccer after a match so that your foot can heal, but this time, you didn't. Kuroi Hane Taifuu puts a lot of strain on your foot, and you used it a lot of times against Senbayama. The intense match with Senbayama followed by a competition with Ichinose was too much." "Why didn't you stop her if you had known?" Kidou shouted angrily at Gouenji. "How would I have? She never told us! She's the type that overworks herself and never complains! Stop blaming me for this!" Gouenj finally couldn't stand it and started shouting back. It looked like it was going to be a big argument now, but a familiar voice cut through the shouts.

"If you're real soccer players, than play fairly." The Mukata Triplets froze, then bowed toward the man who the voice had belonged to. "Gomen," they apologized. It was Nikaidou-kantoku. Behind him stood a middle school girl, probably a student from Kidokawa Seishuu who was accompanying him. "You guys head back now," he directed the three. They bowed again, and ran off. Then Nikaidou turned to us. "Gouenji, Inoue, no Sakurai, I've been watching you play in the Football Frontier. I'm glad you're both continuing soccer despite what happened," the coach contined. I stood up thanks to Kidou's help and me and Gouenji bowed. "Arigatou," we said. "Then I give my blessings," Nikaidou said, then turned and walked away.

Then as if it was a dream, I saw that the girl was _her_. That same golden hair blowing in the breeze, the same crisp school uniform of Kidokawa Seishuu, and as she turned her head toward my direction, it felt everything was happening in slow motion. Her olive eyes met mine, and her mouth formed an O shape. My eyes widened, whether in shock or terror I did not know. "Hi...Hinata?" I asked softly.

**Haha...so maybe the part where Shizumi uses Kuroi Hane Taifuu against Triangle Z is copied from the manga when Kidou uses Dark Tornado (its his signature move in the manga) against Rococo's shoot, then ends up hurting his leg. And I'm sorry this chapter was short again. I seem to have gotten off the groove. I'll give you guys a good long chapter soon, so just bear with me until then!**


	24. The Truth of Hinata

"Can someone finally tell me who this Hinata is?" Kidou asked impatiently tapping his foot in front of me with arms crossed. We had returned back to the park where we were discussing our next game strategies earlier. I was sitting on the bench in the same spot as before, only that Kidou wasn't next to me but rather towering over with an unwavering gaze, and Gouenji was leaning on a tree with arms crossed and eyes closed, giving everyone the message that he wanted no part in this conversation.

Thanks a lot, Gouenji.

I slouched down and covered my face with my hands, which were propped up by my elbows on my knees, and made a sound that sounded like a cross between a groan and a sigh. Kidou only continued staring at me without a change in expression. His eyes were starting to drill a hole through my head. Finally, I groaned again and lifted my head. Then I turned to Gouenji, and said, "I don't want to talk about it. You tell him."

Gouenji opened his eyes and turned his head lazily so that it faced me. "You think I want to be the one that Kidou explodes on when he finds out who Hinata is? No way." Like I said, thanks. I appreciate it, friend.

Kidou couldn't take it anymore. "Just. Who. Is. Hinata?" he shouted exasperatedly. I gave Gouenji one last hopeful glance, but he had already resumed to his earlier position. I sighed. That leaves me no choice but to tell the truth. I took a deep breath. "She was the girl who had a crush on me back at Kidokawa Seishuu when they thought I was a boy."

Kidou was speechless. I looked down. Every second that ticked by in silence only added to my anxiety. Even Gouenji was looking at the scene now. Finally, Kidou said slowly, "Oh..." I couldn't tell whether he was angry, shocked, or having any reaction toward the news. There was another awkward silence. "Did you like her back?" Kidou asked softly. I clenched my fist, crumpling the cheap skirt but not caring a shit. "...Maybe. Maybe not. I don't know."

"They never officially dated, but everyone pretty much thought that they had something going," Gouenji's voice shot in. So now you help, Gouenji. That imput contributes a lot. Not.

"Oh..." Kidou said slowly again, his voice stiff this time and trailing off at the end. Then he turned quickly and walked away without even saying goodbye. It was the same stride that Gouenji had used earlier, the type that wants to get away from what just happened as soon as possible, holding in the tears until turning a corner, then burst into a run and finally flop onto the bed and cry when you get home.

My gaze followed the blue cape until it turned onto the next block. For a second me and Gouenji didn't know what to think of the situation. On one hand, it was a surprise he didn't go ballistic. On the other hand, I had a feeling that I, Sakurai Shizumi, had just made the boy who used to bully me cry. Somehow, that didn't make me feel good though. My clenched fists slowly let go of my skirt.

"You had better go apologize," Gouenji told me. I scoffed. "Me? You were the one that added salt to the wound," I shot back. Gouenji narrowed his eyes at me warningly. I glared back, daring him to say something. I knew that we both felt the heat of the moment rise. For the first time in forever, we were fighting. Not our usual daily squabble, but a real fight. "At least I wasn't the one who broke his heart," he hissed. Then he stalked off, leaving me sitting there staring after him wondering whether I had made the right choice.

In one day, I had just lost two of the most important people in my life.

I don't know how long I sat there frozen in that spot. I had just made the worst mistake in my life. Even the shaming from Aphrodi didn't compare to this. Around sometime later, a fancy black car rolled by. Then it stopped in front of the park and a shoe stepped out. The first think I recognized was the prissy voice though. "Wait for me here. I just need ten minutes," she said in that princess-y air. Then following the shoe was a girl with reddish brown hair wearing a premium version of the Raimon uniform. I recognized her as Raimon Natsumi, daughter of the chairman. Why was she here?

She headed toward me. Was she looking for me? Was I in trouble with the chairman? Perhaps Raimon wanted to kick me off the soccer team? Taking a shaky breath, I tried to make my voice sound as strong as my usual threatening appearance. "Is something the matter?" I asked, my voice wavering halfway in the middle. She smiled at my failure of an act. Then she sat down next to me. There was silence.

"What did you come here for?" I finally broke the silence. "I was going back to the school to do some investigation for papa until I saw you sitting here looking sad. What happened?" she asked. I was surprised at how kind her voice sounded with genuin concern. I always thought she was the snotty valley girl type who would flounce around with other annoying people like Aki, the green haired manager who I hate and hates me back.

"Nothing," I replied, avoiding her eyes. But the cracking of my voice gave me away. I was shocked at what she did next. She put an arm around my shoulders to comfort me, as if... almost as if we were friends. "You're going to be okay, whatever happened. Understand?" she asked me, "Take this as the chairman's order if you will." I couldn't help but crack a smile. She noticed and blushed, embarrased. "Hey! Stop laughing at me!" she said, her face red but not angry. Now my smile turned into giggling, and finally laughter. She joined in after a few seconds, and just like that, I had made my first friend who was a girl (and was aware of my true gender at the same time so Hinata doesn't count).

She brushed away a tear as our laughter finally started subsiding down. "Care to tell me what happened now?" she asked, still with traces of giggles in her voice. Before I knew it, it all came out, the encounter with the Mukata Triplets, how I had felt the need to win for everyone, Hinata, me possibly hurting Kidou's feelings, and Gouenji angry at me and stalking off. She just sat there listening to me quietly, letting me take m time to pour everything out. When I was finally done, we sat there in silence absorbing the details. Then she grabbed me firmly by the shoulders and swiveled me so that I faced her. "You gotta go apologize to both of them. Sort it out with Gouenji. Explain everything to Kidou. If you still want them back, you have to talk to them and move past this."

I was a little stunned at how she directly slapped me with the obvious. But I knew deep down that she was right. What had to be done had to be done. "Do you think they will forgive me?" I asked. "Yes. Now let's go!" she replied. Then she stood up and marched over with me towing behind to the car.

"Batora, first we have to make a pit stop at the Kidou resident."


	25. Pomegranate Eyes

I was dreading this second when the tire screeched to a stop, meaning that we had arrived at the Kidou resident. Batora came out and opened the door for me. "Now go. And good luck!" Natsumi called after me as she pushed me out. Then as soon as I was out the car, she pulled it back close with a slam and Batora, who had gotten back int othe driver's seat, started the engine.

"Hey, wait-," I was cut off as they drove away. What was Natsumi thinking? Now I would have no way to get home but to walk, which was very far since I lived in the city while his house was in the suburbs, or to...suddenly, the realization dawned on me. Natsumi had planned all this to ensure I wouldn't chicken out. I would be forced to ask Kidou for a ride home, which meant that first I had to get on good terms with him again. I expected nothing less of the chairman's daughter, but this masterplan was truly admirable. If I wasn't the one that had to do it, that is.

But I had no other choice, since now I really needed to get home before the sun sets. I shudder at the thought of running into Tobi the Kicker and his gang again. I would have no soccer ball for self defense this time, and who knows what they will do to me after what I did to them. I shut the grotesque image of them lying in unnatural angles on the ground out of my head and walked up to the gate of the Kidou resident.

"Yes?" a girl's voice greeted me after she answered my knock. She was a girl about an year or two older than me with wavy hair tied in pigtails Hatsune Miku style which reached her waist. She wore a crisp white blouse with a black tie,a pleated high waisted salmon skirt, and black pantyhose. Since I knew that the Kidou family was rich, this was probably one of their maids. The poor girl, I feel sorry for her.

"Um..." she said nervously, eyeing me up and down. I realized that I didn't answer her first question. "Uh..." I replied, trying to stall so that I could come up with an excuse. Looking at me for one more second, she squinted her eyes. "You aren't trying to sell us something, right? If yes, then we aren't interested." She started closing the door. "Wait!" I cried, "I'm here to...uh...give Kidou his science book! He left it at school." The girl opened the door again, and I knew she was trying to figure out whether I was lying or not. Finally, she told me, "You can give me the book, and I will take it to young master Yuuto."

No! That would wreck the whole plan! I needed to talk to Kidou face to face. "Um, it would be better if I take it to him myself?" I asked, realizing that my sentence sounded too much like a question, making me seem more suspiscious than I already was. I thought she was going to slam the door in my face, but she said, "Fine, follow me. You have exactly five minutes to get out of this house though. Master Kidou doesn't like people he doesn't know to be in this house when he isn't home." Then she turned snootily on her heels and marched down the hall. Stunned, I stood there like an idiot, then finally realized that I had been allowed in. "Arigatou gozaimasu!" I exclaimed, then rushed to catch up to the girl.

"Yuuto-chama! One of your classmates brought your science book! She said she's here to see you!" she knocked on his closed door and shouted in a cutesy high pitch voice that was obviously faked. I silently rolled my eyes at how two faced she was.

"Leave it on the counter," came Kidou's voice from inside. He sounded sad and depressed, totally unlike his usual appearance. The girl turned to me. "Give me the book and leave," she whispered quietly enough so that Kidou couldn't hear us from inside the room, but that I could still hear the firmness of her voice. "I need to talk to him," I said, trying to make my voice sound smooth despite being slightly scared of her pushy attitude. "He hadn't came out of his room since he came home today. Now I'm going to tell you one last time. You're leaving. This house. Now," she hissed, drawing out every word, reminding me of a snake. I shivered. But I had to do this, even if I was faced with a snake.

"Tell him Sakurai Shizumi is here to see him. He'll open the door, trust me," I said, my voice oozing with fake confidence that I had forced. She narrowed her eyes, trying to figure out what I was thinking. Then finally when she thought there was no harm in it, she shrugged and gave me a I'm-telling-you-this-ain't-gonna-work look then shouted in the same annoying perky voice as before, "She says her name is Sakurai Shizumi!" There was a pause, then Kidou said, "Let her in." I couldn't help but give the shocked and glaring maid a smirk before slipping in the door.

The room was the same room I woke up in after I fainted during our match with Senbayama. On the same couch I was lying before was Kidou sitting curled up hugging his knees. His goggles were lying on the table. That meant that for the first time I would see his eyes. I was curious, yet I also felt a little guilty, as if I was invading his personal space or seeing something I wasn't supposed to see.

For a while none of us spoke. Then he broke the silence. "You can sit down if you want," he mumbled. I sat down stiffly on the other couch, knowing that he probably wanted his space right now. There was another awkward silence. It's now or never. I took a breath, then blurted out the question I had been holding in. "Do you hate me?"

There was no reply. Finally, Kidou said something that was too quiet for me to hear. "Can you repeat that?" I asked gently, afraid that I was going to scare him. He seemed so fragile right now, not broken like after our match with Zeus, but fragile as in easy to crack.

"No," he repeated, louder this time. "Then why are you angry at me?" I asked. "It's not you, it's me," he mumbled.

"Care to explain why?"

"No."

I found no words to say after his flat reply. We sat there in silence. But something was nagging at the back of my head. It was the last piece to complete this puzzle I didn't know how to solve. Something Gouenji said earlier... I remember now. Those words echoed in my head like the click of a key opening a door that had beein locked for over a century. _At least I wasn't the one who broke his heart. _Did he mean that, could it be, that Kidou liked me? As in more than a friend? I always thought he did all of that just for pure entertainment. But there were times it didn't seem like that too.

My mind flashed to the time he took me by surprise and stole my first kiss. Then it flitted over to when he ran over to me during our match with Senbayama. Finally, my brain flashed to his frantic expression that had been burned in my mind, both after the match with Zeus and just before I fainted.

Another thing was pulling at my mind, but I couldn't pinpoint what. No, it wasn't exactly a what. More like a memory of a feeling. It was...jealousy. I remember now. That day, when Gouenji led me and Kidou to the riverbank. Kidou had told his sister to be safe, and I had felt a pang of jealousy. That gave me an idea.

"Ne, Kidou-san?" I asked. "Mm?" he replied without turning my way, though I could have sworn I saw his eyes flicker this way. "Do you like Otonashi-san? As in more than a sister?" He looked surprised, and seemed to think over the question for a few seconds. "Maybe. Maybe not. I don't know," he finally replied. "See? That's the same response I gave when you asked whether I like Hinata back," I told him. He was a little surprised, then thought it over, then frowned again. "That's different. She's my sister," he muttered. "So?" I asked, "You lost contact with her for half of your life, then met up later when you were both old enough to have_ those_ feelings."

Kidou looked up at me, and for the first time, I saw his eyes for real. They were like two drops of blood on snow, two rubies in a pile of gold, and just like mine. Our pomegranate eyes met, and at that second, I realized just how much Kidou meant to me. Like that saying goes "You only miss the sun when it starts to snow, you only miss him when you let him go".

I could almost see the click going on in Kidou's brain as a dark shadow grew over his eyes and his mouth curved into that devious grin I knew all too well. He leaned over to grab his goggles off the table, then snapped them on, reminding me of a mafia boss slipping on his elegant white silk gloves."Say, Shizumi-chan?" he looked into my eyes and asked innocently, but I could detect the edge of myschief in his voice, "Will you make a deal with me?"

**I'm sorry, this chapter was so lame and sappy and cliche, but I especially liked the title. But I had no idea on what to write for an apology scene without going OOC, so I guess that's that. (Gouenji's might be even lamer, but bear with me please!) Next chapter may be short because it was supposed to be part of this chapter, but it got too long.**

**I was thinking of going to an anime convention dressed up as Shizumi, what do you think? I'll have to make the Teikoku uniform shirt, then buy a pleated skirt and red contact lenses. **


	26. A Kiss In Exchange For Forgiveness

**Continued from last chapter. I'm sorry, the title is lame.**

"Say, Shizumi-chan?" he looked into my eyes and asked innocently, but I could detect the edge of myschief in his voice, "Will you make a deal with me?"

In just a few seconds, the Kidou inside was gone, and the arrogant prince was back. Just like back at the balcony, I felt the dangerous aura emitting off of him, something I did not trust at all. "That depends..." I stuttered, scared of what he was weaving in his mind. What he was planning was always unpredictable, and most of them were never good. For me, at least.

"We'll put all of this behind us if you..." said Kidou, his voice trailing off, a cheshire cat grin stretched across his face as he crawled onto the couch I was sitting on and advanced on me. I instinctively backed up, but found myself leaning against the armrest.

He leaned in, knowing that he had me in the best position, and...a sharp knock came from the door, breaking the moment. He instinctively pulled back a little, and I coud've sworn I heard him cuss under his breath, but I was still trapped.

"Yuuto-chama, please forgive me for interupting, but five minutes are up," the maid's high pitched, overly sweetened voice came floating in. I cringed at how fake her voice was whenever she refered to her "young master". What a faker.

Kidou sucked in his breath, clearly as annoyed as me. "Go away, Kaori, she's my guest. Show some manners," he snapped. "Hai, gomenasai," she said, then her footsteps walked away.

Then the goggled boy turned back to me and sighed. "I'm sorry you had to come through her to get in. It must have been hard. She's always super obsessive and clingy." "It's okay," I replied, wanting to keep this subject up to avoid whatever Kidou had been planning earlier. "When you first saw her, how old did you think she was?" he asked. What a weird question to ask. But oh well, if it's letting me stall, then I'm all for it. "Um...our age? Or an year older?" I said, my voice unsure.

I couldn't believe this, but he laughed. Not the "I have dominated all" laugh which every Teikoku member has mastered by some unwritten rule, but an actual one. Only a little, of course. This was Kidou Yuuto we were talking about after all.

"She's actually two years older than us, but she acts like a kawaiiko to get attention, mostly from me. Her family has a good relationship with father, so she was sent to work for us since they didn't need her," Kidou explained. "That's terrible!" I gasped. I couldn't imagine mama or papa giving me away. Didn't her family love her? Now I was feeling a little sorry for her instead of completely annoyed.

Kidou continued, "So her plan is to make me fall in love with her so she can use me to get a better status in the society." "Well, I don't really blame her," I blurted out. If it was for survival, then I would do it too, even flirting with someone I hate like Kidou.

"You know, I bet she was listening to us outside earlier, then broke the moment on purpose," Kidou said thoughtfully, "The timing was off by two minutes." He pointed to a clock in the room which I hadn't noticed earlier. It was true, there was a clock in the foyer too and indeed seven minutes had passed so far.

"So anyway, as I was saying, she's the fifth child of the Ukita family. The eldest is a sister who is married off to Genda's older brother cuz they wanted to get rid of her too without dirtying the family name, not smart, pretty or obedient enough or something. The second is a brother who has inheirited the family buisness, the third is also a sister but she's apparently super smart and studying abroad in America, and the fourth is a brother who was some genius violinist shipped off on some sort of tour with some famous rumored to be Japanese violinist there whose name I forgot."

"It was Sakurai Akane, right? And the boy was Ukita Daichi, 17 year old prodigy," I replied without thinking. "Yeah, that was it. How did you know? Are you interested in European violinists?" Kidou asked. I shook my head and tried to stiffle a giggle. It came out anyway. "Last name reference?" I asked in a when-are-you-going-to-get-it tone. He thought it over for two seconds. "You're last name is also Sakurai right? Is Sakurai Akane your cousin?" Kidou asked. I shook my head again, "No, mother." I felt his eyes widening behind those tinted lenses. "But she's looks so young! So you don't live with your parents?" "Nope. They went to Europe to cover up the Inoue Shizuro thing."

"You had me distracted there for a few minutes. Let's resume to what we were doing before we were interupted, shall we?" Kidou said after waiting patiently for me to finish, lips curving into a grin. Shoot, he remembered. And I could tell that this time there was no steering the topic away.

He leaned onto me and pinned my wrists to the couch. I tried to struggle free, but my pretty much nonexistent arm muscles barely did anything. And somehow, I didn't think kicking him in the part where it hurts will get me good results.

He watched me, amused at my failed attempt to escape. Then his face came closer, until it was only inches apart. I had a good feeling I knew what was going to happen. Then even closer, until I felt warmness spread over my lips, and it streamed through my veins inside my body.

"See, that wasn't so hard, wasn't it?" he asked after pulling away. His tongue traced the top of his lips, as if savoring the taste that mine's left behind. I blushed, and averted his eyes. "By the way," he continued, "We're cool now. The deal is done."

The kiss left a faint whisper behind on my lips. A piece of Kidou Yuuto himself, a mix of both the annoying a-hole and the nicer side of him I haven't figured out quite well yet.


	27. Friends For Life

I breathed a sigh of relief as I stepped into my apartment and closed the door behind me. Suddenly, the phone rang, and I ran to pick it up. Who could be calling me? Not that many people knew my phone number after all, only mama, papa, Haruna, Natsumi's father, Kageyama, Gouenji, and Nikaidou-kantoku. Did mama and papa find out already? With a trembling hand, I picked up the phone and clicked the talk button.

"Yo Inoue," a familiar voice came from the other side.

"Eh?!" I cried, surprised that it would be him, "Gouenji?!"

"What? Why you so surprised? Ever read the caller ID before picking up the phone?"

"...Shut up."

I heard him chuckle on the other end. I gripped the phone tighter. "So what if I don't? It's not like anyone *cough* my friends a.k.a. you *cough* even call so why should I bother."

He only laughed some more. "Sheesh, don't be so angry! Are you on your period or something?" he teased.

"I dare you to say that again." He instantly stopped laughing at my sharp tone. I'll let him go this once, just this once, because he didn't know that gender related stuff was a sensitive topic for me. But next time, he's going to get it.

"Gomen, gomen," he laughed nervously, not sure if I was seriously mad or not. He continued, "I was just calling to say good job. I knew you would make the right decision in the end. Getting into a fight with you actually worked, huh? Or so I've heard."

"Huh?" I asked. What was he talking about?

He seemed just as confused as me. "Didn't you make up with Kidou?" How did he know? I had just got home, and I didn't tell anyone yet, and hadn't planned on it either. The other possiblity was Kidou, but I didn't think Gouenji would be the first person he told. No wait...There was one more person. And it slowly dawned on me who was responsible.

"Natsumi told you, didn't she?"

"No, Haruna did."

I unintentionally started tapping my foot impatiently. His trolling/teasing tendency often resulted in being socked by a soccer ball in the stomache, then being sent to the school nurse. Well, now you know who was probably responsible. "And Natsumi told Haruna to pass it to you since she has everyone on the team's phone numbers, right?"

"Yup."

"Natsumi's going to get it tomorrow," I fumed. I thought she was a real friend who would keep my own buisness private, but I guess all girls (who were raised like girls) were gossip-holics. Hinata not included. Yet I knew deep down that I was thankful Natsumi had told, or told Haruna to pass it to Gouenji. It made making up with Gouenji much easier. I could almost feel Natsumi smirking at me right now the way Kidou does when I finally have to admit that he is right.

"If you leave a mark on her, people are going to think you're a wild girl for starting a catfight with a lady," Gouenji's voice said, stating the obvious. Sometimes, I find my own best friend so annoying.

"Then I'll just take it out on you."

"Meep. I'd better hide behind Endou."

"Too bad. He can't stop my shoots."

"Why is it always me? Don't you have other friends?" he teased.

"I swear if I could, there would be a soccer ball responsible for slamming into your face right now," I deadpanned.

"Okay okay. But really, you should make more friends, you know? Real ones. And some that are girls. Give Aki and Haruna a chance, they're nice girls," His teasing words had a caring tone underneath that struck me how much he actually cared for me, and how good of friends we were. Not just teammates. Not just the two ace ex-strikers of Kidokawa Seishuu who resurfaced on Raimon's side. We were two boys (let's just say I'm Inoue) with history together, bonded for life. Friends for life who will stick together to the end of the world.

I may have one thing or another, I'm not admitting anything yet, with Kidou, Sakuma, or Genda, but without Gouenji, I don't know how I would have gotten by. Who was the one who defended me when everyone at Kidokawa thought I was a demon? Who was the one who never pried or prodded when I wanted to be left alone, whether to change back when I was still a boy or to think? Who was the one who gave me courage to return to soccer? Who was the one who told me it wasn't my fault if we lost? Who was the one who caught and supported me even when I fell? A phoenix can't fly with only one wing, who was my other wing?

My best friend, that's who. Gouenji Shuuya. Someone like Kidou, Sakuma, Genda, or Natsumi will never even come close to comparing. Not even Hinata or Yuuka. Not even Azami-neesan who taught me soccer. They didn't know how it was like to go to battle side by side with me, both trusting 100% that the other will guard his or her back. Whether it was injured and struggling even to stand during a hard match, sweating and panting at practice whether Raimon or Kidokawa, or soaring gloriously like a phoenix knowing that the two of you are invincible, no one else could replace him.

"Love you," those words slipped out of my mouth. It somehow felt a little strange saying these words now that he knew I was a girl, but nonethless, when they came out of my mouth, I realized that nothing else had really changed between us. We were still the best of friends, the yin and yang of Kidokawa Seishuu, no, of each other.

"Love you too," he replied smoothly like we've always done in the past. I found it so easily to say these to words to Gouenji, yet so hard to Kidou. I was still confused why, but that was okay. I had someone who I could trust would stay with me until I figure everything out.

"By the way, how did you do it with Kidou? Play cocky? Pour your heart out directly?" Gouenji asked.

"...Don't ask."

**Azami will appear more in the future, and the Ukita family is important too, but I'm not telling why or when yet~ By the way, does anyone know why you can't click the submit button for a new doc in the Doc Manager? **


	28. Love Won't Change Some Things

_Two Days Later; Gouenji's POV_

"Yoshi, let's win today!" Endou shouted, pumping his fist into the air. "Aye!" the rest of the team shouted enthusiastically, though none of them matched up to Endou's fueled passion. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Inoue try to sneak to the door unoticed. "Hey, where're you going?" I asked without drawing attention to him, I mean her (gosh I will never be able to think of her as a girl no matter how much I try). She jumped, not literally of course. She probably didn't think that me or any other members of Raimon would see her try to sneak out. She was right about Raimon, as they were too busy doing last minute stretches and going over strategies, but I was her best friend. Of course I would notice.

"I'll be back before the match starts," she squeaked, then scampered away.

_Shizumi's POV_

I didn't know what I was doing, or where I was heading. All I knew was that I needed some alone time to freshen up before we faced Kidokawa Seishuu. Of course, I wasn't going to leave this building since the match was starting soon, but I just needed someplace to ease my mind so that I could focus later.

A man wearing the referee jacket told me to go back quick since we only had five minutes left. I assured him that I will, that I just needed to think for a while. He was skeptical, but left me alone. I shuffled around some more, repeating that it would be alright, just play like you usually do. Then suddenly, I bumped into someone and that someone fell backward. My first instinct was to steady her since I had already slipped into Inoue Shizuro, but then my arms went limp as I realized who it was.

"Hinata..." I whispered unintentionally. She blinked back, her eyelashes fluttering like a butterfly. She opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out. Finally, she greeted akwardly, "Oh hello, Inoue, long time no see." "You too," I replied, letting go of her forearm. She noticed my quick retraction and cut in hurriedly, "It's no problem."

I couldn't help but smile. Hinata hasn't changed. She was still the same girl as when I left. That was a good thing, because if she did, then that would be my fault and I would never forgive myself. Even though we were both girls, I still held a special place for Hinata in my heart. But then I frowned, remembering those words of Musara's that had made me go crazy. "Yes it is," I said, taking a step back to put space between us, "You're Musara's now, aren't you?"

Hinata blinked again and cocked her head to the side, looking at me like I have two heads. "What are you talking about?" she asked. I tried to search her eyes for traces of lies, but they were pure and sincere. "Aren't you and Musara a thing?" I asked, getting more and more confused by the second. Yet at the same time I was also getting a clue of what happened.

"Who told you that?" she demanded. "Musara himself," I replied. For a moment, none of us said anything. Then as if she about to expload, she clenched her fists, and I could tell that it was taking her everything to not punch the wall. I was restraining myself from cussing at Musara that lying piece of shit out loud for the world to hear by biting hard on my tongue.

"Did you believe him?" she asked quietly. I didn't reply, only looked at the ground shamefully. "You did, didn't you?" she continued, her voice rising, "Even after we promised to wait for each other until you came back." Hinata's voice was cracking, holding in tears that were about to come pouring out. "Gomensai," I whispered, still avoiding eye contact. "I wanted to call you so much after you left, but I didn't have your new phone number, and you never called me. And no matter how much I asked, bribed, or begged, no one could give me any information. It was as if you had disappeared from the face of the Earth. Then one year later you come on TV in Teikoku's team and I recognized you at first glance," Hinata spoke, her voice still wavering.

This was the worst thing that could have ever happened. Even worse than being told off by the Mukata Triplets or Gouenji. Of all people, Hinata saw me fail. As a traitor. And a liar. I didn't deserve her. I didn't even deserve to play soccer.

But Hinata's accusations didn't stop there. "Then soon I saw you again, playing for Raimon! And you cut your hair too. I was so happy that you were back, and I just had to see you. So I applied for manager for Kidokawa Seishuu's soccer team." ..Huh?

"You aren't mad at me?" I asked. She shook her head frantically. "Of course not! Well, maybe a little, but not a grudge or thirst for revenge, nothing like that. I'm just glad I can see you again, even though I don't quite understand everything starting from why you dressed up as a girl. But we can talk about that later, you have to get to the field now.

That was when I suddenly noticed the time on the watch that Hinata had on her wrist. Oh my god I'm late by a minute! Gouenji's gonna kill me. So will the rest of Raimon. Heck, Hibiki-kantoku might even decide to take me off the team.

"I gotta go. See ya later!" I said to Hinata with a wave as I was about to run off. "Wait," she said and put her arms around my waist, hugging me tight from behind. "I'll love you no matter who you are," she murmured, "I don't care because I love you."

**Don't worry about the yuri guys, it's just gonna be a puppy love kind of thing, nothing serious. (Think Mikusa and Rami from Arata: The Legend) Sorry for the short chapter and slow update. Next one might be either super short or super long, depends on if I decide to combine it with the match with Kidokawa Seishuu. Gomenasai, pdates may slow down to once a week:(**


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